Planning appeal for Beulah holiday let dismissed

A PLANNING appeal against Ceredigion County Council’s refusal of permission for a Beulah holiday let has been dismissed with phosphate levels in the Afon Teifi part of the reason.

Last month the Planning Inspectorate issued its decision on retrospective change of use for the upstairs of a garage at Dol Aur into a holiday let, which Ceredigion planners had refused in June 2020.

The ground floor of the garage is used as a ‘granny annex’ which the local authority said did not constitute development with the appeal submitted for the one-bedroom holiday flat, a report states.

A Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) was carried out and reference was made by the inspector to the Natural Resources Wales (NRW) phosphate targets assessment and the issues in the Afon Teifi special area of conservation where rates are too high.

“I conclude that it is beyond reasonable scientific doubt that the scheme, either alone or in combination with other projects, would have an adverse effect on the integrity of a European Site, namely the Afon Teifi SAC. In these circumstances planning permission must be refused for this reason. This conclusion is based on the particular circumstances of this case,” the report of A L McCooey, inspector, states.

Other matters considered by the inspector included effect on living condition and access and highway safety with mitigation of concerns received positively by the inspector but the final decision was to dismiss the appeal.

Last month Ceredigion County Council said there were 45 planning applications delayed by the highlighting of phosphate concerns by NRW with delegated powers approved to determine those received after June 1, those submitted before that are being held in abeyance until further guidance is received.