The uphill struggle continues for Trout Fishery in North Pembrokeshire

AN application to build holiday chalets at a trout fishery in north Pembrokeshire, backed by county planners twice in a row, is expected to be refused at a full meeting of the county council.

Plans to provide nine accommodation cabins and ancillary works at a former fishery business at Millbrook, Manorwen, Fishguard, were backed at the May meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council planning committee, despite being recommended for refusal for a third time.

At the April meeting, members of the county council’s planning committee said they were ‘minded to approve’ the application.

The cautious approval – made following a site visit proposed at the previous meeting – meant it returned for ratification in May.

Members were also told that any full approval at the May meeting would mean the decision, a departure from the adopted Local Development Plan, would need to be referred to full council for a final decision.

Officers have repeatedly recommended the application by Messrs L & C Williams – diversification of an existing agricultural holding and trout fishery business – be refused on the grounds it would have an unacceptable adverse impact on the character and appearance of the countryside.

The application will now be considered at the July 13 meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council, with a recommendation that the council does not endorse the resolution of the planning committee, adding: “The reasons advanced by the planning committee in support of the proposal do not outweigh the Development Plan policies which direct that planning permission should not be granted.”

The report adds: “Attaching significant weight to the limited benefits of the proposed development scheme would therefore set an undesirable precedent, undermine consistency in decision making and would make it difficult for the council to resist similar development proposals on sites that fall outside defined settlement boundaries in the open countryside.”

In the event members agree to endorse the planning committee’s recommendations, a string of conditions is proposed, including occupation as holiday accommodation only.