Following a meeting with the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority to discuss the town’s Brynhir site, members of Tenby town council have agreed to lodge a formal objection to proposals to exclude the land from the draft Local Development Plan (LDP) for 2021-31.

The move comes after recent discussions on the Brynhir site situated on Narberth Road, where local councillors queried why the site had not ben re-allocated in the Deposit Revision for the LDP and the centre boundary for Tenby had been redrawn to exclude the land.

On meeting last month with National Park planning officer Sarah Hirst, Clr. Laurence Blackhall explained that the town council felt that discussions would be useful to explore the land allocation sites that had been listed,

He explained that historically there had been sites included in the LDP that never had any prospect of being brought forward for development so it was very positive that there had been a ‘rigorous assessment’ and some had been removed if there was no realistic prospect of them being brought forward. However, he was aware that there appeared to be a ‘realistic prospect’ of the Brynhir site coming forward, as Pembrokeshire County Council as the landowner had been marketing the site for some time and progress on different ways of developing the land were being worked on.

Mrs. Hirst stated that PCNPA used to allocate land immaterial of whether or not there was a realistic prospect of it actually coming forward, and when preparing the revision of the LDP, they had to be careful over what was being included.

She explained that since 2016, she had been corresponding with PCC and had received nothing substantive to convince PCNPA that this land would be brought forward for development.

Mrs. Hirst said that she was aware there had been movement on the site recently but, realistically, the best way to ensure that this site remained available was for a planning application to be submitted before Autumn 2019.

Clr. Blackhall explained that the town council were supportive of the land at Brynhir being developed but only on the proviso that it delivered a significant portion of affordable housing, stating that he felt that this needed to be explored fully, and was concerned that removing the site from the 2021-31 LDP would cut this avenue off.

Mrs. Hirst said that she was aware that PCC’s cabinet had agreed to lodge a formal objection as well to the removal of the site, and stated that she was unsure as to how fast things were moving at PCC in relation to the land, but said that an early application would ensure that the development opportunity would be preserved.

In response to Clr. Mike Evans’s question as to whether any dialog on the affordable housing provision on the site had taken place between PCC and PCNPA, Mrs. Hirst said that, while it was set at 50 per cent, every time she had enquired, PCC’s property section had replied that they were ‘in negotiations with potential developers’ but could say little more due to commercial issues.

Both county councillors for Tenby, Clr. Michael Williams and Clr. Evans, shared their frustration that this had been the response that they were continually being given too.

Clr. Blackhall said that every year people were forced to move outside of Tenby because they could not find affordable housing which was having a detrimental effect on community cohesion, and the Brynhir site presented a possible opportunity to help address the issue.

Clr. Williams said that he would be pressing PCC to submit an application for the site, with Clr. Evans concurring, even if such an application was only in outline to establish numbers.

Clr. Williams said that he felt that any development at Brynhir had to be of the highest quality due to its position in the National Park but he also felt that all authorities needed to hold the line in relation to the delivery of affordable housing.

Clr. Evans said that PCC’s Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA) had considerable funds to develop affordable provision there was political will to utilise some of this at Brynhir.

Speaking at Tuesday night’s meeting, Clr. Blackhall said that the meeting with Mrs. Hirst had been very useful and had set out the position of all parties involved. Clr. Evans agreed that it was a ‘good, open meeting’ and said that the town council now had until the end of the week to put forward its formal objection to proposals to exclude the land at Brynhir from LDP.

“This land has been designated for planning longer than PCNPA has been in existence. Do we need to see affordable housing on this land? I do, and I’m 100 per cent behind it!” he told his colleagues.

“This is an opportunity to deliver housing that this needed in this area for local people,” added Clr. Evans, before the majority of councillors agreed to back lodging the formal objection.