Holiday park ordered to remove glamping pods after losing appeal

Richard Youle, Local Democracy Reporter

The owner of a large holiday park in west Wales has been told to remove glamping pods and extensions to the site’s clubhouse.

Ken Strelley, of Gateway Resort, Bynea, Llanelli, founded Gateway Resort around 25 years ago on what was the family dairy farm and has built it up since.

Carmarthenshire Council issued him four enforcement notices in March this year alleging there had been planning breaches on parts of the site.

The notices required him to take down glamping pods, clubhouse extensions and an underpass and remove touring caravans and stop using land for static caravans in the areas in question. He was given 17 months to comply.

Mr Strelley, who currently has planning applications in with the council, appealed on the grounds that the steps required were excessive.

The four appeals have now been determined by a Welsh Government-appointed planning inspector, who upheld the enforcement notices while making some amendments to the wording.

These amendments included a new line saying there had been a change of use of the land for the siting of static caravans for residential use by holidaymakers without planning permission. That use, it said, had to stop and the area of associated hardstanding removed. Another amendment said the use of land for agriculture had been changed for the siting of caravans for residential use by holidaymakers without permission, and that this had to cease.

The inspector’s decision report said Gateway Resort had an extensive and complex planning history and that applications had been submitted to the council, although related matters around ecology and two other topics remained unresolved.

“In essence, the appellant’s case is that they should be allowed more time so that the applications could be progressed to a positive decision,” said the report.

“The appellant and the council can continue to progress the applications and nothing in my decisions fetters that process. The council has stated that should the issues be addressed and permission granted, then any relevant notices could be withdrawn.”

The report said Mr Strelley acknowledged the 17-month deadline was “generous” and that he was willing to work with the council.

“Notwithstanding this, the appellant has not actually put forward any specific lesser steps or measures which would remedy the breaches,” said the inspector’s report. “Simply waiting for the applications to be determined is not, in and of itself, a lesser step which would remedy the breaches identified in the notices.

“In addition, the suggestion that the requirements could be amended to stipulate that the glamping pods, caravans, clubhouse extensions and underpass should not be used, rather than requiring their removal, does not remedy the breaches.”

A planning statement submitted on Mr Strelley’s behalf for one of the live applications – a part-retrospective bid for 40 glamping pods – said Gateway Resort employed many people and generated in excess of £20 million per year into Carmarthenshire’s economy according to the council’s own estimates.

“Gateway Resort is trying to rise to the increasing challenges of what can be a fickle tourism and accommodation market, often heavily influenced by weather patterns, by improving its site layout and providing additional facilities,” it said.

Applications relating to the resort were turned down in 2025.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) contacted Mr Strelley and Gateway Resort but there was no response at the time of going to press.

Speaking to the LDRS in 2022 Mr Strelley said he’d taken over the 95-acre farm from his late father and grafted for little reward. “It was long days, hard days,” he said. “I was literally working for nothing.”

One day in 2001 a friend who was cutting hay with him and looking across the Loughor Estuary to Gower suggested that visitors would like camping there.

“I didn’t think it would work,” said Mr Strelley. “But I thought I had nothing to lose.”