The owners of a nursing home near New Hedges have said they are "bitterly disappointed" to learn that Pembrokeshire County Council are pressing ahead with plans to locate a civic amenity site next to their care home.

The county council's planning application for a new civic amenity and recycling centre on land alongside Brooklands Nursing Home, which will incorporate an internal access road, site access improvements, erection of a compactor shed, canopy shed and welfare office, provision of containers, along with skips and igloos, has now been submitted to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority for consideration.

The development, which is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government, will also include staff and visitor parking, a weighbridge area and quarantine area, lighting and site signage, fencing and landscaping works.

"The application has taken a long time to develop and a significant amount of review and assessment work has been undertaken surrounding the potential impacts that the proposal could have on neighbouring properties," said a spokesperson for the county council.

"These include noise, air quality, visual impact and traffic - particularly taking into account the residents at Brooklands Nursing Home on the Narberth Road.

"Following consultation on the initial plans, changes including the introduction of a landscaping bund, additional planting between Brooklands and the operational area of the site, acoustic screening to surround the glass skips, the removal of the gas bottle storage compound, as well as alterations and improvements to site lighting and signage, have been made

"The council believes that the assessment work which has been undertaken demonstrates that any potential impacts arising as a consequence of the development would be so limited as to not have any material impact upon any neighbouring residents.

"The National Park Authority will also undertake a consultation exercise for the proposal as part of the planning process," they added.

Brooklands Nursing Home manager Darren Umanee said that the home would continue to "campaign vigorously" against the proposal

"We were shocked and bitterly disappointed to learn that Pembrokeshire County Council intends to press ahead with its plan to construct a waste disposal site alongside the Brooklands Nursing Home and has now submitted a formal planning application to the National Park Authority," stated Mr. Umanee.

"We were equally disappointed to have learned this via the media and would have thought that the council would at least have had the decency to inform us of its intentions directly given our objections and the large public and community outcry against this monstrous plan.

"We and many others have expressed concerns upon this project since we first learned of it. We remain of the opinion that this is the wrong site given the fact that Brooklands provides specialist care to some 40 elderly residents suffering dementia related illnesses.

"No matter what precautions are put into place, there will likely be a significant intrusion into the life and wellbeing of our residents - nuisance through noise and odours will become commonplace, and it may be that our residents will also lose the benefit of our sensory garden and have to be kept indoors; there will be a much greater traffic flow and heavy machinery working long hours in this facility. Landscaping is unlikely to lessen these concerns in any meaningful way.

"We will continue to campaign vigorously against the proposal and feel sure that many others will do likewise," he continued.

Mr. Umanee felt that application was the "wrong facility in the wrong location" and not just because of its proximity to Brooklands and the impact upon its vulnerable residents, but also due to its location at the gateway into the prime tourist destinations of Tenby and Saundersfoot.

"I feel strongly at the county council's seemingly heartless attitude to this matter and its Gung Ho desire to proceed irrespective of public opinion," he said.

"Hopefully National Park planners will be far more understanding of the situation and enter into deep and widespread consultation and analysis prior to debating the application," added Mr. Umanee.

The application and its support documentation is now a public document available to view through the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority.