A CALL for a time extension for plans for housing on the site of a former “blot on the national park” seaside turkey farm has been given the go-ahead.

In an application recommended for delegated approval to senior officers at the June meeting of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park’s development management committee, Mark Chapman, through agent Hayston Developments & Planning Ltd sought permission for a further three years’ time extension for a previously-granted scheme to build four homes at the former turkey farm, on land off Blockett Lane, Little Haven.

The application was before the committee as it was recommended for approval despite the local community council, The Havens, objecting to the scheme, and it being a departure from the local development plan.

The Havens had objected to the scheme on the same grounds it objected to the original 2021 application for four dwellings granted in 2022, saying there was a poor access road, very narrow, with no pavement leading to the village for pedestrian use.

An officer report recommending approval said: “The application site comprises a parcel of brownfield land which historically formed part of a turkey farm complex located to the south of Little Haven. The wider site has been subject to extensive residential redevelopment, with several dwellings completed and others under construction on adjacent land. The site is also subject of a current enforcement notice relating to storage of shipping containers.

“The applicant has advised that development has been delayed due to an ongoing civil dispute relating to access rights, which has prevented commencement within the original timeframe but which the applicant believes to be resolvable.

“As the application is in outline form and seeks only a time extension, there are no changes to the scale, layout, or form of development for assessment at this stage with only indicative plans having been received.”

Speaking at the meeting, agent Andrew Vaughan-Harries of Hayston reiterated it was hoped the civil matter could be addressed to “deliver this important development”.

He added: “The old turkey farm and sheds were a real blot on the national park, on a sensitive spot on the clifftop, a real eyesore.”

He said developments on-site so far had seem them cleared, with the “sensitive development” expected to net up to £90,000 in affordable housing contributions to the authority.

On the community council access concerns, he said: “Perhaps they are newer members who don’t remember a busy turkey farm and its traffic; at the end of the day Little Haven is a pretty little village with narrow roads on all sides.”

Committee chair Cllr Simon Hancock, said committee-viewed aerial pictures of the turkey farm site were “stark” in comparison with its now-cleared state, moving approval, which included some 16 conditions.

Members backed the recommendation of approval.

PLANS to diversify a National Trust campsite on the Pembrokeshire coast, with seasonal siting for campervans and ‘landpods’ have been approved.

In an application recommended for delegated approval at the June meeting of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park’s development management committee, the National Trust sought permission for a change of use of land for camping, the seasonal siting of five ‘landpods’ and 20 campervans and associated works at Gupton Farm, near Freshwater West.

The application was before the committee rather than being decided by planning officers as it is an application recommended for approval which was a departure from the adopted Local Development Plan 2.

An officer report recommending approval said the 4.5 hectare site currently operates as an established seasonal campsite under a National Trust exemption certificate, with a permission dating back 10 years or so for five campervans and 45 tents, and a maximum of 50 pitches.

“The proposal seeks to formalise and diversify the existing operation by allowing greater flexibility in accommodation type and pitch management whilst maintaining the existing overall site capacity of a maximum of 100 people and 50 pitches per night.”

It added: “The submitted information confirms that the proposal does not seek to increase overall occupancy levels at the site but instead proposes a redistribution of accommodation types through increased campervan provision and the introduction of seasonal landpods. The landpods are proposed as free-standing seasonal structures with no permanent drainage or utility connections and would be removed from the site during December, January and February.”

It says that, while the scheme represents a departure from planning policy “due to the sensitive coastal landscape location,” officers consider “that the seasonal nature of the proposal, the established exempted camping use, the absence of any increase in overall site capacity, the landscape-led design approach and the significant biodiversity and visitor management benefits weigh in favour of the proposal”.

The report adds an original pre-application proposal conflicted in part [with policies] “due to the scale and sensitivity of the site location,” officers advising there could be scope to support “a reduced-scale, clearly seasonal proposal where robust landscape mitigation, ecological enhancement and visitor management justification could be demonstrated”.

It said the submitted application sought to address those concerns; the scheme which incorporates “significant landscape and biodiversity enhancement measures” is “specifically designed as a seasonal and reversible form of development, with the Landpods removed from the site outside the operational season and stored within an existing onsite barn”.

The report later said: “On balance, it is considered that the proposal would not result in unacceptable harm to the special qualities of the National Park and that the material considerations in favour of the proposal outweigh the identified policy tensions in this instance. The principle of the development is therefore considered acceptable subject to appropriate planning conditions.”

It is recommended to delegate conditional approval to officers following the end of a public advertisement period for a policy departure.

Moving approval, Dr Madeleine Havard, chair of the authority, welcomed the seasonal nature of the proposals and the offer of more formal pitches for overnight campervans in the area.

“No overall increase [in pitch numbers] is quite important; critical for me is this is seasonal, therefore we are able to ensure the pods are able to be taken away.

“The possibility it might be able to help the situation in the area regarding campervans as well, I think it’s also very positive.”

The application was approved with 15 votes in favour and one abstention.

WALES is “open for business”, according to the new minister for enterprise, connectivity, and energy.

Former Plaid Cymru leader, Adam Price, who was appointed to the role last month, told Senedd colleagues on Tuesday, June 2 that the new Welsh Government will be “placing productivity at the heart of its approach”.

In his new role, Mr Price has responsibility over areas such as tourism, Business Wales, and international trade policy and promotion, including overseeing matters relating to the UK/EU Trade. He is also responsible for economic strategy and policy.

He said: “Productivity is the foundation of long-term prosperity. It underpins wages, living standards and competitiveness.

“Today, Wales continues to lag behind, with productivity around 15% lower than the UK average. But productivity is not an abstract measure; it’s about raising incomes, creating better jobs, and ensuring prosperity is shared all across Wales.”

Mr Price said the Welsh Government would be adopting a new approach, which he described as a “mission to tackle productivity and a target to reduce Wales’s productivity gap by half with the UK within ten years”.

Concluding his speech to the Senedd, he said: “This is a moment of opportunity. Wales has the assets, the talent, and potential to succeed. What is now needed is leadership and delivery.

“It requires focus and a relentless emphasis on delivery. It requires a government prepared to make choices and act with pace.

“And it requires a clear mission, one that puts productivity, people and firms at its core. That is our mission.”

Jason O’Connell, Reform’s shadow minister for economy and transport, challenged Mr Price on his plans to establish a new national development agency.

He questioned plans to bring back a “failed” Welsh development agency and said: “History tells us that it was another unnecessary bureaucratic quango that was linked to illegally inflated redundancy payments, where directors flew first class around the world while communities across Wales were left behind.

“And this is Plaid’s answer to the economic decay that infects our towns and valleys. The same model, the same results, not even new branding.”

The shadow minister acknowledged the previous Welsh Development Agency created jobs but claimed it also created a “hollowed-out Welsh economy”.

Mr O’Connell said his party would instead allow “no additional bloated quangos, no new layers of bureaucracy and no abdication of ministerial responsibility to unnamed and unaccountable civil servants”.

In response Mr Price expanded upon his reasoning for creating the new agency and said: “We want to be evidence-led, and the evidence from right across the world shows pretty conclusively, if you ask pretty much any leading economist in this area, that development agencies are the tried-and-tested tool for any nation, region or anywhere else that has driven up the kind of trajectory in terms of productivity growth that I’ve described.

“Is it the only thing that you should do? Absolutely not. We’re not going to achieve it just through the development agency, but it’s a pretty necessary tool in the toolbox, based on the experience elsewhere.”

Labour’s spokesperson for employment, equalities, and economic transformation, Shav Taj, also pressed Mr Price on his plans.

She said: “We’ve heard a lot about the government’s plans, of course, about the new Welsh development agency, but people aren’t asking for promises – they want action, and they want it now.”

Ms Taj, part of the new cohort of Senedd Members following last month’s election, continued: “Creating a new sort of agency takes time, it takes effort, it takes money and it takes focus, of course, and people in Wales don’t want or need quangos or structures just for the sake of it.

“What we need is more well-paid, skilled and secure work in every single part of our country, because right now families are genuinely feeling the pressure. Making ends meet, paying the bills – that is the stark reality.”

Ms Taj pointed to the previous Labour government’s work and said: “In the 12 months leading up to the Wales investment summit, Wales attracted £4.6 billion of inward investment”.

“We know that Plaid talk about their ambition for Wales, and, of course, we all share that.

“The reality is: will those actions then match it? Can the cabinet secretary tell us whether his new development agency will beat this figure?”

Mr Price responded: “I think that it’s important to bring us back, isn’t it, to the focus of today, which is the announcement of a goal, a target, which we lacked for 20 years.

“Nobody can absolutely predict the future with 100% certainty. It’s not possible. But one thing we can predict: if you don’t have a goal at all, if you don’t have a target at all, you’ll never achieve it; you can’t even measure progress.

“And that’s why the first step in any plan to revitalise the Welsh economy is to be clear about the direction of travel. In the absence of that clarity in the previous administration, we had decades of drift. So, we are setting that right.”

Janet Finch-Saunders, the Conservative spokesperson for enterprise, connectivity, and energy, highlighted the importance of co-operation within the Senedd and believing in Wales.

She said: “I’d like to stop, right from the start of this new government, where we talk Wales down.

“I have more confidence and some faith in the new government. I’ve worked with them for over 15 years, many of their members.”

She continued: “We’ve got to be positive now, because, as has been said here today, Wales is in a mess business wise, and there’s a lot to be done.”

Noting her planned meeting for next week to discuss the Menai Bridge, Ms Finch-Saunders continued to stress the importance of all the parties of the Senedd working together to achieve the best outcomes for Wales.

The Bangor Conwy Mon MS went on to quiz Mr Price on issues such as mobile phone connectivity, broadband connectivity, and transport infrastructure.

She said: “You talk of Wales being open for business, but, in your first statement as cabinet Sec, there is a complete absence of a plan to fix our roads.

“So, I feel that’s a glaring omission. Our transport system is not fit for purpose. We have to get more inward investment into Wales, but, unless you put those priorities in place, then we’re not going to see any improvements.”

Mr Price, in response, welcomed Ms Finch-Saunders’ commitment to cross-party working, and said: “New ideas from any direction, I think, are absolutely incredibly valuable, and we will approach this important responsibility that we have in a collaborative manner, in the way that she described.”

He agreed with her on the “absolute centrality of infrastructure” and continued: “If we think about the productivity goal that we’ve set out as the mission today, then, you know, most economists would say that there are three key elements in terms of the long-term success of achieving that kind of productivity growth.

“One is skills, the other one is innovation, the third one is infrastructure, and so getting the infrastructure right so that our businesses then have the platform that they need in order to deliver their own business potential.”