COUNTY HALL in Haverfordwest will be lit in purple on Monday January 27 to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

This year Holocaust Memorial Day marks the 80^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and remembers the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust and those killed in genocides that followed.

The theme of this year’s commemoration is ‘For a Better Future’ and focuses on what everyone can do to create a better future.

This includes speaking up against Holocaust and genocide denial, challenging prejudice and encouraging others to learn about the Holocaust and more recent genocides.

Pembrokeshire County Council Leader, Cllr Jon Harvey, said: “This year’s Holocaust Memorial Day is particularly poignant as we remember the moments that Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated and the horrors of the Holocaust revealed to the world.

“We all have an opportunity to take action for a better future. A better future where people are not suffering prejudice or persecution because of their faith, ethnicity or other characteristic.”

Council Presiding Member, Cllr Simon Hancock added: “On Holocaust Memorial Day, we remember the Jewish victims of the Holocaust and all the others who suffered under Nazi persecution and the genocides that have followed.

“As we honour their memories, we also pledge to fight prejudice, discrimination, and antisemitism in society today.”

You can see more information on Holocaust Memorial Day at: https://hmd.org.uk/

PLANS adapt an outbuilding at a north Pembrokeshire cottage, which has had two previous extensions, to provide additional space for visiting family members are expected to be refused.

In an application recommended for refusal at Pembrokeshire Coast National Park’s development management committee meeting of January 29, Mr and Mrs Lewis seek permission for the park to allow habitable rooms in a consented building, along with a link to the existing dwelling at Lleine, near Moylegrove.

A supporting statemen through agent Harries Planning Design Management says: “This planning application follows a previously submitted planning application for extension to the dwelling and the rebuilding of existing outbuildings.

“It also follows a pre-application advice enquiry for an extension and to allow habitable rooms in the outbuilding and a refusal for an application of a similar nature.  Following the refusal, we met with officers at the [national park] offices in Pembroke Dock to discuss a way forward for this proposal given the reason is to enable relatives to stay with the family. We therefore have followed the advice of the officers and provided amended plans following their response.”

An officer report for planners says Lleine, on a minor coastal road linking Newport and Moylegrove, is a traditional single-storey cottage that has been extended on two occasions previously.

It adds: “This application seeks consent to allow habitable rooms in an outbuilding which previously gained planning permission, together with the erection of a link to the existing dwelling. The current application follows the refusal [of a previous application], which also sought consent to allow habitable rooms in the previously consented building, and the construction of a link to the main dwelling.

“It was considered by officers that the proposal represented an over-development of the original dwelling by introducing additional accommodation and built form over and above that which was granted.”

It says that while the revised proposal is smaller, “it is still considered that the further additional built form would be an over-development of the existing dwelling, which already been extended extensively”.

The application has been brought to committee consideration rather than decided by officers at the request of the local councillor.

A CALL to approve a new campsite close to a Neolithic burial chamber for Pembrokeshire coastal path walkers, at which building works have started without permission, has been made to county planners.

In an application to Pembrokeshire County Council, Raffale Colella is seeking partly-retrospective permission for a proposed 12-pitch campsite at Tir Fynhad, New Hill, Goodwick.

The application is partly-retrospective as part of a concrete and timber facilities building for the site, near the chambered tomb of Garn Wen, a scheduled ancient monument on land owned by the applicant, has already been built.

A supporting statement through Johnston Planning Ltd says the applicant “seeks to establish a high-quality, all-season facility which will cater primarily for walkers on the Pembrokeshire coastal Path who currently lack any meaningful accommodation of this nature in the locality”.

It adds: “The scheme proposes some 12 individual camping pitches set on a north-south axis on the site divided by an access track running the length of the facility with the proposed welfare building set midway along the eastern side of the site.

“In this instance the proposal relates to the establishment of new camp site on the periphery of a recognised settlement. The proposal will fulfil a recognised need for low impact and financially competitive tourist accommodation along the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park which is amplified somewhat by the recent restriction of temporary camp sites under the ‘28 day rule’ in the nearby Pembrokeshire Coast National Park (and the anticipated introduction of a similar measure within the plan area).

“The provision of temporary visitor accommodation in this location will lead to increased spend in the settlement of Goodwick helping to underpin the service function of that town and having general indirect benefits in terms of social and economic sustainability.

“Ecologically the development proposes significant enhancement measures in terms of planting that will have clear positive impacts in terms of habitat creation and foraging habitat for a range of inset and animal species.”

The application will be considered by county planners at a later date.