PLANS for disability-friendly holiday lodges at a Pembrokeshire deer park attraction which could be a Wales tourism “benchmark” have been backed, but a final decision is likely to rest with full council.

In an application recommended for refusal at the January 14 meeting of Pembrokeshire County council’s planning committee, Mr and Mrs Evans are seeking permission for 15 lodges at Great Wedlock, Gumfreston, near Tenby, the site of a 176-acre deer farm attraction, which includes animals from the late Queen’s estate, and a more recently-granted market traders’ barn.

An earlier application for the lodges was recommended for refusal by officers at last July’s planning meeting, but, at the start of that meeting, members heard the application had been withdrawn at the agent’s behest.

Reasons for refusal given to members included it was outside of an identified settlement boundary in a countryside location, it was considered to have an adverse impact on visual amenity and did not include a Green Infrastructure statement.

The applicants have previously said build costs to complete the development would be circa £2m.

Following the withdrawal, amended proposals have been submitted by the applicants through agent Atriarc Planning, following a consultation recently held with St Florence Community Council.

St Florence Community Council did not support the previous application, but has supported the latest scheme.

Speaking at the January meeting, Alan Jones, on behalf of the community council, said it was now supporting the “much-improved design” which, amongst other concerns, now addressed the issue of a much wider range of disabilities – including the blind and deaf and hard of hearing – rather than just wheelchair use.

Applicant Andrew Evans told the meeting the proposals would support a whole raft of people with varying disabilities, Great Wedlock already taking a “head-on” approach supporting people with disabilities through special vehicles at the deer park, and encouraging people with disabilities to apply for staff vacancies.

“This is not an application for yet another holiday park, it is a well thought out one for those who have a disability, which will make them a majority rather than a minority; it will make us at the forefront for people in Wales to visit with a disability.”

Local member, Cllr Rhys Jordan moved the application be supported in spite of an officer recommendation for refusal, saying it was “an opportunity to address a clear shortage [for disability-friendly accommodation] and a chance for Pembrokeshire to lead the way in accessible tourism,” adding: “Most importantly the lodges will be 100 per cent accessible and set a benchmark, positioning Pembrokeshire as a leader in accessible tourism.”

He finished: “Approve this forward-thinking proposal today.”

Officers have recommended planners refuse the scheme, for similar reasons to previously, saying the material considerations put forward in the agent’s supporting planning statement “are not sufficient to overcome the conflict with relevant Development Plan policies”.

Members voted 11 in favour to two against supporting the scheme.

The committee’s backing of the proposal takes the form of a ‘minded to’ support, meaning the proposal will return to a future meeting as it is against an officer recommendation, and, if supported a second time, will ultimately have to be decided by full council, in this case potentially at the March meeting.

The applicants’ previous scheme for the trading barn took an identical route, being decided by full council after repeatedly being recommended for refusal.

COUNCIL chiefs called for a minimum 4% increase in funding for each local authority and three-year settlements to avert the risk of a Welsh council going bust.

Andrew Morgan, leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf council, warned of “extreme” budget pressures as he appeared before the Senedd’s finance committee on January 15.

He welcomed a £253m uplift in the overall settlement from the Welsh Government but contrasted the increase against a £559m funding gap in the 12 months from April.

He said: “Clearly, the figures show it actually only meets about half of the actual demand for the coming 12 months, so there is going to be significant pressure on local authorities.”

Cllr Morgan, who is leader of the Welsh Local Government Association, the collective voice of Wales’ 22 councils, added: “It is increasingly difficult to be able to explain to the public that we’ve put council tax up while still reducing services.”

He told the committee: “When it comes to council tax, most local authorities are in the range of 5% or upwards for budget planning at least at this stage.

“We are acutely aware of the pressure on local residents in terms of the cost of living, so it is a real dilemma for local authorities.”

Pressed on whether any councils in Wales could issue section 114 (bankruptcy) notices, Cllr Morgan said: “I certainly don’t think there will be any risk of 114 notices in the coming year but that’s not to say that there isn’t a risk there in the medium to long term.”

Asked about Audit Wales’ warning that councils are financially unsustainable, Cllr Morgan called for a three-year settlement to allow planning beyond a 12-month cycle.

He said: “Welsh Government comes out with a provisional settlement in December, that only gives us ten or 12 weeks for us to line up all our ducks in terms of making budgets add up – that’s what’s not sustainable, I would suggest.”

Anthony Hunt, leader of Torfaen council, described the challenge next year as “orders of magnitude different” due to a better-than-expected settlement from the Welsh Government.

He said: “There will be schools that retain staff, there will be services that can be maintained.”

Cllr Hunt told the committee a flat budget or 1% increase, as first feared, would have had “unthinkable” consequences, with “massive” service cuts and redundancies across Wales.

With councils receiving increases ranging from 2.6% to 5.6%, he made the case for a 4% floor which would be funded from outside the settlement at a cost of about £13m.

He emphasised that the 22 principal councils will never be happy with the wider funding formula because there will always be winners and losers.

Lis Burnett, leader of Vale of Glamorgan council, raised the example of hospital discharges.

She said: “I think we’re probably one of the best in Wales now that we can actually get a care package sorted out for people to go home within approximately three days.

“That has been of great benefit to the health board but it basically means that we’re £10m overspent in our social care.”

Turning to education, Cllr Burnett said: “We’re having to be very, very careful in terms of how we rationalise spending for education. The demands, and the complexity of demand, have gone up exponentially – particularly since the pandemic.”

She said her council was “lowest funded by a long way” in terms of education, adding that there is an appetite for reform of the funding formula.

Nia Jeffreys, leader of Gwynedd council, said her local authority has cut £74m over the past decade, nearly a quarter of its day-to-day revenue budget.

Warning of no easy choices, Cllr Jeffreys told the committee: “The efficiency savings have been made already and we’re in a situation now where we’re looking at real-terms cuts … that means stopping doing things and halting services that people rely upon.”

She said Gwynedd and other councils in north Wales are looking at increasing council tax by 8% to 9%, placing a burden on families already struggling with a cost-of-living crisis.

Cllr Jeffreys echoed calls for an “absolutely vital” funding floor, pointing to additional costs of delivering public services in more rural areas.

Asked about increases in employer national insurance contributions, she put the cost to Gwynedd council at about £4.5m.

Cllr Hunt said councils have been assured that they will be given money towards the cost of the rise for directly employed staff.

He stressed: “That national insurance rise is one of the reasons why there’s more money now for public service organisations. And I think we need to be a bit careful not to welcome funding but complain about where it’s come from – it needs to come from somewhere.”

Cllr Morgan said the biggest concern is the money to cover the cost being “Barnettised” (i.e. based on spending in England) which could leave Welsh councils short.

He told the committee education and social care now make up about 70% of all council budgets, suggesting only so much “tinkering” can be done within the other 30%.

He raised concerns about the “eye-watering” costs of children’s care to councils, with some specialist placements costing a five-figure sum each week for every child.

PLAID CYMRU has called for action to tackle the NHS backlog, accusing Labour of “utterly failing” and leaving more than 620,000 people languishing on long waiting lists.

Mabon ap Gwynfor, the party’s shadow health secretary, warned waiting lists have hit record highs in every month since March, including each month of the First Minister’s time in office.

He said: “And what’s been the response of this [Welsh] Government? Firstly, to blame everybody else: blame the patients, blame health managers, blame royal colleges, blame everybody and deny responsibility.

“After 25 years of governing, they decided to go on a listening exercise and hear people telling them what they should have known years ago.

“Then, each month leading up to Christmas, a new strategy was put in place, and each month, the numbers on waiting lists were increasing.”

Leading a Plaid Cymru debate, Mr ap Gwynfor pointed to his party’s five-point plan to tackle NHS waiting lists which was unveiled this week.

His colleague Sioned Williams raised the “alarming” rise of the use of private health care, warning deep-rooted inequalities are becoming increasingly stark.

Accusing Labour of eroding Aneurin Bevan’s vision for the NHS, she said statistics show a 77% rise in admissions to private hospitals in Wales over five years.

Ms Williams added: “58% of Welsh people have either accessed private health care or know friends or family who have done so, which is higher than the UK average.”

Llŷr Gruffydd, a fellow Plaid Cymru Senedd Member, said: “Now, the situation in north Wales, in my region, is frightening, if I’m honest…. There is a whole generation of children and young people with conditions such as ADHD and autism being let down.”

James Evans, the Conservatives’ shadow health secretary, warned the NHS is in crisis, with more than 23,000 people waiting at least two years for treatment.

“This isn’t just inefficiency,” he said. “It’s a symptom of a deeper problem and the chronic underfunding and neglect of our social care system.”

Mr Evans called for an independent review of NHS Wales to “fix a system that has been broken by years of Labour mismanagement”.

Russell George, who chairs the Senedd’s health committee, raised concerns about Powys health board’s “ridiculous” proposals to balance its books.

The Tory said: “In Shrewsbury or Telford hospital, a Welsh patient could be sitting talking to a consultant and the consultant tells them, ‘We’ve got capacity to see you. We would see you if you were an English patient but we’re not able to because Powys is not able to pay.’”

Labour’s Buffy Williams said years of chronic underfunding from successive Conservative UK Governments has been catastrophic for the Welsh NHS.

Jeremy Miles, who was appointed health secretary in September, pointed to signs of progress on the Welsh Government’s priority of reducing the longest waiting times.

He told the Senedd the number of people waiting more than two years has reduced by two thirds since 2022, with 3% waiting at least two years compared with 10% at the peak.

Mr Miles said: “The health service is making progress despite the increasing demands upon it but there is much more to be done in order to ensure that people are treated sooner.”

Following the debate on January 15, Senedd Members voted 39-11 against the Plaid Cymru motion before the Welsh Government’s amended version was agreed, 26-24.