PLANS for more tourist accommodation at a golf club in the southern tip of Powys have been approved by Powys County Council planners.
Celtic Minor golf club at Lower Cwmtwrch near Ystradgynlais have applied to build two tourist pods and an access path in the course grounds, in the hope it could help it grow as a wedding destination.
The site earmarked for the pods does include a number of trees including Ash and is situated between several of the golf course greens.
Some of the trees would need to be chopped down to allow the site to be developed.
Planning case officer Huw Boaler said: “The pods proposed are not permanent in nature and complement an existing tourism asset in the form of a golf club.
“The proposed siting of the pods is within existing woodland finished with wooded cladding and therefore are considered to be well-integrated into the landscape.”
This part of Powys is defined in the Local Development Plan (LDP) as having “coal bearing strata” at the surface.
It is possible in the future that the coal there may need to be mined.
As the development is seen as “minor in nature” Mr Boaler believes the site can be restored to a condition that would “allow for future extraction” if needs be.
Mr Boaler recommends approving the plans subject to conditions – one of those is that the pods will be used only for holiday accommodation and not as anyone’s main home.
One of the conditions is that it will be for holiday accommodation only and will not be used as a someone’s “sole or main residence.”
To prove this, the company will need to keep an up-to-date register showing the visitors home addresses, and the dates they stayed there.
This register will need to be available for inspection.
The golf club was known as the Palleg and Swansea Valley Golf course before being re-branded in 2015.
In 2020 planning approval was given to demolish a driving range facility, which was used to allow golfers to practice their swing and replace it with a new buildings that can accommodate six visitor units.
The tourism developments are seen as a way of “transforming and securing Celtic Minor Golf Club as a viable, modern and fit-for purpose leisure and tourism destination.”
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