Couple fear losing campsite business over planning breach

Richard Youle, local democracy reporter

A couple who ploughed their savings into a farmhouse and campsite have been told to demolish the toilet and shower block, reception building and glamping pods.

Bonnie Fisher and Shane O’Neill, who live in the farmhouse, said they would have to close Church House Farm Getaways, near Carmarthen, if this happened.

They bought the farmhouse and caravan and campsite in 2021 and went on to replace the existing toilet and shower facilities and construct a new reception building, spending tens of thousands of pounds in the process.

“This is our retirement project,” said Mrs Fisher. “We sold my house, we sold Shane’s house, and we sold a jointly-owned cottage which we’d renovated to buy this place.

“We’ve got no plans to enlarge it. Visitors always get a good welcome. We like to see people come and enjoy themselves.”

Certification

The site, in the village of Llangain, has long-standing certification by the Caravan and Motorhome Club for five caravans, motorhomes or trailer tents, but it has expanded including the addition of three glamping pods, which pre-dated the couple’s purchase.

Carmarthenshire Council has previously raised concerns about this expansion and refused a planning application in 2006 by the previous owners to change the use of land for 30 touring pitches and build a toilet and shower block on highway safety and other grounds. The council had, however, granted temporary permission for a portable toilet block for two years in 2004.

Mrs Fisher and Mr O’Neill said the caravan and campsite currently had 29 pitches and that they hadn’t realised they should have applied for planning permission for the toilet and shower block and reception building. They did apply retrospectively as some of the work had already been done but it was turned down, with the council saying the site was largely unauthorised.

The couple also applied to the council for what’s known as a certificate of lawfulness for the three glamping pods. This was also refused.

Enforcement notice

In March this year the council issued an enforcement notice to the couple requiring them to remove the glamping pods, toilet and shower block and reception building, and cease the use of the land as a caravan and campsite – except for the area that had been certified by Caravan and Motorhome Club.

Mrs Fisher and Mr O’Neill appealed but only on one ground, namely that the three-month deadline to comply should be extended to a year.

Their planning agents acknowledged in their submission to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales – formerly the planning inspectorate – that a planning breach had occurred on the land.

But they argued there was strong evidence to suggest that the expansion of the caravan and campsite could be lawful because of how long it had been operating as such. They also felt any highway issues could be resolved and contended that the council’s current planning policy “takes a more positive approach” to tourism development.

The agents urged the planning inspector to extend the deadline so they could draw up a certificate of lawfulness application or other planning applications to the council, but the inspector turned the appeal down, saying three months was reasonable and that extending it to 12 months “would considerably prolong the identified public harm”.

Stressful

Mrs Fisher, a nurse who runs a private aesthetics clinic in Swansea two days a week as well as running the campsite, said the situation has been very stressful. She and Mr O’Neill, a retired builder who maintains the campsite and works on the farmhouse when he can, said they employed a part-time groundsman, cleaner and reception building worker.

Mrs Fisher, 53, said their planning agents would soon be submitting a certificate of lawfulness application to the council given what they contend has been its historic wider use. Their hope is that, if granted, the toilet and shower block, reception building and glamping pods could also be retained.

Asked what would happen if it was turned down, Mrs Fisher said: “We would appeal it. If that decision was upheld we would have to close it (the site) down.”

Church House Farm Getaways has won awards in recent years and some people living nearby have backed the couple in their planning battle, saying the site was well run, an asset to Carmarthenshire, and that steps were taken to ensure a free flow of traffic when caravans arrived.

Mrs Fisher said a council tourism officer visited the site a while back and, based on booking numbers and other data, had estimated it was worth £2.6 million in visitor spend to the wider economy.

Another local person supported the council’s enforcement action and felt “total disregard” had been shown for the planning process.

Planning history

Asked if they had fully explored the planning history of the site when they purchased it in 2021, Mrs Fisher said: “Not that I remember. We didn’t delve into it. I think at that point we were just eager to move in.”

She added: “We’re not having a go at the council. The last thing we want to do is point the finger of blame.”

Asked to comment on the situation, a spokeswoman for the council said: “As the local planning authority, Carmarthenshire Council does not condone unauthorised development and will use its full range of powers to seek to regularise development in the public interest.”