‘ You’ll force my mother into care’
MAN’S WARNING TO PLANNERS IF HE’S MADE TO TEAR DOWN EXTENSION:
AGWYNEDD farmer who was ordered by a national park to tear down an extension he built to house his sick mother is seeking a last-minute reprieve.
According to Alun Lewis, the work was carried out to help the family care for his elderly mother after she suffered a stroke and was diagnosed with dementia.
But with the Snowdonia National Park Authority having turned down his bid to retain the recently built two-storey side extension at Nant Cwmbran Isaf farm near Nasareth, Mr Lewis is now asking the Planning Inspectorate to stop it being demolished.
Demolishing the extension would, Mr Lewis’ planning agent says, mean Mrs Owen would have to be put into care.
Despite being previously granted permission for a smaller extension, Mr Lewis’ appeal documents state that he decided to amend the plans as “in hindsight they did not meet his family needs” and required “something larger and purposefully built”.
But after work started on the amended extension in 2019 he received an unannounced visit from national park enforcement officers, telling him to stop the work and tear down the extension as it was not in keeping with the approved plans.
A retrospective planning application was also refused by the authority’s planning committee in September last year, despite a local petition and letters of support, giving Mr Lewis just a year to revert the farmhouse.
According to the park, which is defending the enforcement notice and decision to refuse, the now completed extension is “significantly larger in scale, of a different design and is almost one and a half times more than the original dwelling.”
While the footprint of the original farmhouse was 62sq m, the unauthorised extension alone covers 87sq m, described by park planners as “overdevelopment” and “an incongruous and overly dominant addition to the original dwelling”.
The park added: “Officers have communicated clearly and regularly with the applicant and the agent throughout.
“Advice has been clear from the outset that the size and design of the extension did not comply with the policies of the development plan.
“Mr Lewis was also informed whilst the site was under construction that the works were unauthorised. This advice was ignored.
“The authority gave full consideration to the personal circumstances of Mr Lewis’ family, and has no objection to the principle of providing an extension to achieve family and wider care needs, and are confident a suitably designed extension would be granted permission.”
But with Mr Lewis describing the amended side extension as “modern, sustainable and almost entirely off grid” due to him taking advantage of sustainable alternative energy for heating, electricity and water, the park was adamant the circumstances “were not considered to justify an extension at the size and of the design of the one that has been built”.
His supporting documents, while conceding that he “acted irresponsibly” in proceeding with the works, also accuse the national park of having a “reluctance to engage” with Mr Lewis and his planning agent.
Summing up, his agent wrote: “The consequences of demolishing the extension would render Mrs Owen having to be put into care, notwithstanding the economic damage to the viability of the farm enterprise. I would respectfully request the inspector quashes the enforcement notice and allows Mrs Owen to receive the care she duly deserves.”
Among those having backed Mr Lewis’ cause are the local community council, Cllr Owain Williams, the NFU and local MP Liz Saville Roberts.
Writing to the national park before September’s planning meeting, Ms Saville Roberts urged members to consider the “exceptional circumstances” and while she would not ordinarily advocate operating outside of planning rules, argued that the covid emergency and the family’s “urgent need” would ensure that no precedent was set.
It’s expected a Welsh Government-appointed planning inspector will now collate submissions from both Mr Lewis and the Snowdonia National Park Authority before coming to a final decision.