Council approves plans for dog exercise area

Rory Sheehan – Local Democracy Reporter

A Welsh council has given the green light for a piece of agricultural land to be used as a dog training and exercise field.

Flintshire Council planners have granted, partly in retrospect, a change of use application for the land south of the veterinary surgery at Tyn Y Caeau, Northop Road in the village.

This application proposed the change of use / enclosure of the agricultural land to allow it to be used as a dog training area, with a small area for parking.

Progress of the application had been impacted by the need to submit a Noise Impact Assessment and to clarify the scale of development including frequency of use, to aid the assessment process.

Consideration needed to be given to the living conditions of occupiers of nearby properties, to ensure they were safeguarded from potential noise / nuisance associated with dogs barking.

Green security fencing, which is already in place, will also be replaced with standard wire fencing similar to that found in an agricultural context to prevent dog breeds from escaping from the site, and to improve visual amenity.

A planning officer’s report suggested the plans could be approved subject to conditions.

Conditions

The report noted: “In progression of the application, additional information has been sought from the applicant including the submission of a Noise Management Plan / clarification on the nature and scale of highway movements to aid the assessment process.

“As a result and as referenced above, it is therefore recommended that the application be supported subject to the imposition of conditions.”

Among the key conditions is the implementation of a noise management plan, and that the site shall be used solely for the training and exercising of dogs between the hours of 8am and 8pm only.

A log will be kept on a daily basis and made available for inspection by the local planning authority restricting the use of the site to no more than eight individual hourly sessions within any working day.

This will accommodate a maximum of three dogs within the site and / or car park at any one time.

The plans were granted in a delegated decision signed off by Flintshire Council’s chief planning officer Andrew Farrow.