A scheme to reinstate pasture on land used to help in the delivery of the recent A40 Llanddewi Velfrey to Redstone Cross road improvement scheme in Pembrokeshire has been approved.

In an application to Pembrokeshire County Council, Mr Llewellin, through agent Gethin Beynon, sought retrospective permission for engineering works to raise ground levels and reinstate pasture at Cotland, Llawhaden, near Narberth.

A supporting statement said: “The application comprises of importing surplus excavated greenfield material to assist the delivery of the A40 road improvement scheme on behalf of Welsh Government. The material is excavated by a 360-degree excavator and loaded from three donor sites in the locality into tipping lorries and hauled to Cotland Farm. The material is then tipped and graded onto the application site to raise land levels using bulldozers to spread and compact the ground.”

It said works started in October 2024, and, to prepare the receiving site at Cotland Farm the topsoil has been scrapped and stockpiled to be reused as part of the remedial works to finish and reseed the site.

“The operation has a dual benefit in assisting the [now completed] A40 highway improvement scheme and would provide a functional benefit to the farmstead, as it would rationalise this parcel of land to be farmed in an efficient and productive manner,” the statement said.

An officer report recommending approval said: “The original topsoil on the application site was scrapped and stockpiled prior to development commencing. This topsoil on the site has been used to grade and landscape the imported material. The site is now being reseeded and returned to agricultural use as grassland. Following the remedial landscaping work, the existing access track would be resurfaced.”

It added: “When the development was underway, damage to the adjoining highway was made by heavy goods vehicles travelling to the site. Interested parties associated with the scheme have met with [highways] officers and have agreed to undertake remediation work, albeit that this has not occurred to date. Any on-going issue with the condition of the highway would be dealt with by [highways] under appropriate legislation and a planning condition to address this issue would not be necessary.”

The application was conditionally approved.

The A40 Llanddewi Velfrey to Redstone Cross road scheme, a £60 million joint investment by Welsh Government and the EU, was officially opened in May by the First Minister Eluned Morgan.

It delivers a new six-kilometre upgrade to the old road, a new carriageway, new roundabouts, two new bridges, 22 culverts, a new active travel route and environmental landscaping with over 450,000 plants and trees.