Entrepreneurs ‘thwarted by planning rules’
EXASPERATED councillors said attempts by entrepreneurs to live by their businesses in rural Carmarthenshire were being thwarted by the planning system.
The council’s planning committee was considering an application by a kitchen manufacturer to build a house and workshop on land owned by his parents between Newcastle Emlyn and Carmarthen.
Planning documents submitted on behalf of Bledwyn Rees and his wife said doing so would “future proof” the business, Old Oak Kitchens, which currently operates from a workshop on his parents’ farmyard.
There were seven letters of support, including from Cynwyl Elfed Community Council. It said the Welsh-speaking couple, who live around seven miles away from the workshop, had contributed greatly to the community and that allowing the house and workshop would secure jobs in a rural area where job openings had decreased.
Four people currently work for the business, and the planning officer report before the committee said an additional full-time and part-time post would be created if the scheme was allowed.
The applicants also intend to add a silversmith business and build up a flock of rare sheep.
Planning officers said the application had failed to prove one of these tests – namely that the business was a rural enterprise.
Officers considered the proposal against other exemptions, and also its likely impact on the character and appearance of the area. They noted the applicants’ personal circumstances but recommended that the application be refused on five grounds.
Cllr Ken Howell said the scheme ought to be approved, citing an economic recovery plan published by the council this month which estimated 3,000 Covid-related job losses in Carmarthenshire and the need to reduce barriers to entrepreneurship and retain talented young people.
He said: “Ninety per cent of businesses in Carmarthenshire employ less than 10 people – this (business) is what we need in rural Carmarthenshire.
“Somehow or other the rules and regulations are implacably opposed to this.”
Cllr Gareth Thomas, who also supported the application, said rural areas were experiencing a “de-population”, with new people moving in.
Referring to the kitchen manufacturing business, he said: “If that’s not a rural enterprise, I don’t know what is.”
Councillor and builder Dorian Phillips said it was very important for the applicants to live right by the workshop.
“Why do we want to make life more difficult for people?”, he said.
And Cllr Carys Jones said: “We are in a situation once again where we have to put our principles on one side, and the advice and laws of the Welsh Government on the other side.
“It puts us in the middle, in a really impossible situation. This happens more and more often these days.”
Committee chairman, Cllr Alun Lenny, said members had to work within the planning rules, although he added that the council had lobbied the Welsh Government with a view to slackening requirements in this area.
“The conflict between planning rules and the needs of the county is becoming more prevalent,” he said.
Planning and legal officers clarified several matters and advised that specific conditions would have to applied, should the committee go against the refusal recommendation.
The committee proposed that the application be approved as a rural enterprise, with a condition that the four-bedroom house was tied for those who worked at the kitchen manufacturing business, or their relations. It was passed unanimously.
Speaking after the vote, applicant Mr Rees said it was “fantastic”.