Pembrokeshire council rejects call to decide farm dwelling application

Pembrokeshire Council has rejected a call for councillors rather than officers to decide the future of a farm workers’ dwelling near Withybush Airport in Haverfordwest.

The application concerns an agricultural workers’ dwelling at Landsend, Crundale, near Haverfordwest, which is already in place. Mr and Mrs Rees, through planning agent Harries Planning Design Management, are seeking retrospective permission to keep it.

A previous application was refused in early 2025. An appeal against an enforcement notice was dismissed in October.

No decision has been made on the latest application. Planning officers were due to decide it under delegated powers, meaning councillors would not normally vote on the proposal.

At the November meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s planning delegation panel, local member Cllr Steve Yelland asked for the application to be decided by councillors instead.

Members were advised to support the application remaining an officer decision. Three members voted for the recommendation, two voted against and one abstained. The application will therefore be decided by planning officers.

The site is part of a wider agricultural holding that includes Poyston West Farm and land around the application site. The applicants control about 1,200 acres and operate an 1,100-head dairy herd, together with younger cattle.

The supporting statement says the proposed home is needed for an additional farm worker. It says the worker would help reduce pressure on the applicants and their son, and deal with extra work linked to guidance and animal welfare.

The statement says the farm extends as far as Johnston and the cattle need workers on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Cllr Yelland’s request said the application raised “issues which are complex and sensitive and would benefit from a public examination of the merits”. The request also referred to the size of the farming operation and the need for staff to remain close to the animals.

An officer report said Cllr Yelland had raised the Public Safety Zone around Haverfordwest Airport. The zone limits development options close to the recently built livestock buildings at Poyston Farm, the main farm complex.

However, the report said rural worker accommodation was not inherently complex because Welsh Government Technical Advice Note guidance sets out tests for such proposals.

It also said Public Safety Zones apply only to airports with more than 18,000 commercial air transport movements each year. This equals about 49 commercial movements per day, and the report said Haverfordwest Airport appeared to be below that level.

Cllr Tessa Hodgson supported the officer recommendation. She said public and councillor confidence in the panel’s operation was important after a recent call to abolish it was withdrawn.

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Cllr Hodgson said she was struggling to find a criterion for the application to be decided by members rather than officers.