PLANS for a Conwy Valley touring caravan site together with glamping pods have been put on hold after the application was deferred at a Conwy planning meeting.
Applicant Mr. S. Roberts applied to Conwy’s planning department for permission for 23 caravans or motorhomes and three glamping units for the land at Eirianws Farm, near Tyn y Groes.
The land on the western side of the Afon Conwy forms part of the Conwy Valley Special Landscape Area and lies on the brink of the Snowdonia National Park.
The site is currently used as agricultural and grazing land, and the proposals, which would cost in the region of £300,000, will include a facilities block and access – if they eventually get the go-ahead.
Five touring caravan pitches on the land are already in use, but these are used by a private group and exempt from requiring planning permission.
But Conwy’s planning officers requested that the three proposed glamping pods should be moved further away from Eirianws Cottage, one of two listed buildings together with Eirianws Farm. Both buildings are of sub-medieval origin.
Consequently, the applicant is now reshaping his plans, and councillors on Conwy’s planning committee heard how the application will be amended.
Conwy Planning officer Dave Watson recommended councillors deferred the application. “The recommendation is to defer,” he said.
“The applicant has said if it is necessary to omit the glamping pods from the scheme to allow the development, they are prepared to amend the plans to remove the glamping pods from the scheme. They would also consider reducing the number of touring caravan pitches within the site as well to accommodate the glamping units instead.”
Nine objections to the proposals were submitted to the council, which included letters from the Conwy Valley Civic Society and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales.
Those objecting complained about the size of the project, insisting it would be an over-development.
Cllr Austin Roberts proposed that the application should be deferred, and this was seconded by Cllr Trystan Lewis.
Councillors voted in favour of deferral unanimously.
But Cllr Nigel Smith is on the planning committee and seemed to be concerned about the need for farmers to diversify the use of their land.
“It is worrying for me to see another farming family struggling,” he said.
“It is a difficult one, but deferral is the right way forward.”
