Council set to impose enforcement notice on wedding venue

Ted Peskett, Local democracy reporter

A popular wedding venue is set to be ordered to take a huge marquee down on its land over fears it is scarring the landscape.

Vale of Glamorgan Council is seeking authorisation from its planning committee to serve Dyffryn Springs in Wenvoe with an enforcement notice over the structure, which does not have planning permission.

The venue used to have permission to set up a temporary marquee on site, but it later installed a permanent structure.

After a complaint was made to the council about it in January 2023, the venue applied for retrospective planning permission to keep it in place.

Harmful design 

However, the council refused planning permission for the marquee in March 2024, citing “harmful design” and “unacceptable visual impact” as its reasons for doing so.

A Vale of Glamorgan Council planning report on the issue states: “It is evident from the images that in particular the white (generally glossy) material for the marquee roof and walls results in a white building that sits in stark contrast within the rolling green landscape and its position within a valley ensures that it is highly visible from both close and distant views as evidenced above.”

The council said light coming from the marquee at night time would also have a negative impact on the area.

Dyffryn Springs was granted permission in 2009 to set up a temporary marquee for a period of no more than four months a year over a three-year period.

Aerial imagery shown in the council’s report shows that this marquee was in use in 2019 and that the permanent marquee was in place from at least March 2022.

Visual impact

The council’s report concludes: “Whilst it is acknowledged that the site benefits from historic planning approval for the erection of a temporary marquee, this consent was primarily granted on the basis that it would be in place no more than four months per year over a 36-month period to mitigate and control its visual impact.

“Therefore, the installation of a larger, permanent marquee of a similar design, results in an unacceptable, incongruous structure in the countryside, causing a detrimental impact upon the SLA.”

If the council’s enforcement notice is approved at a Vale of Glamorgan Council planning committee meeting on Thursday, September 26, Dyffryn Springs will be required to remove the marquee and clear the site of all items and materials resulting from the work.

The council report also says it will take legal action if these steps are not carried out.

Dyffryn Springs has been approached for a comment.