A call to allow a Pembrokeshire garden centre to keep a development built without planning permission has been given the go-ahead by the National Park after Google Earth images showed it had been there for several years.

In an application to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, Moylegrove-based Penrallt Garden Centre Ltd, through agent Preseli Planning Ltd sought permission for a certificate of lawful development for a workshop building on site, constructed and substantially complete in February 2021.

An application for a certificate of lawfulness allows an applicant to keep a development if they can provide proof of occupancy or use over a prolonged period.

A supporting statement said: “It is understood that no formal enforcement action has been taken by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority in relation to the structure and that an enforcement notice has not been served. No attempt has been made to conceal the development at any time.

“It is contended that the building was constructed and substantially complete in February 2021. Evidence [of] aerial photos of the site are available in 2020, 2021 and 2023, where the building does not appear to be shown in 2020, but is present in the 2021 and 2023 layer.”

Local community council Nevern raised no objection to the proposal, saying: “The shed is required for efficient running of the garden centre. The garden centre provides employment for 20-plus people, [an] important business in Moylegrove, this shed should be granted certificate if lawfulness.

“The shed has been constructed in a place where is not affecting views of the PCNP, and it is clearly associated with the garden centre.”

An officer report recommending approval said: “The local planning authority is satisfied that the evidence accompanying the application is sufficient to establish that the existing use is lawful. a recommendation to issue a lawful development certificate is hereby made.

“The applicant has submitted a range of supporting information, including aerial images of the site (from 2020, 2021 and 2023) where the building can be observed, as well as a sequence of photos of the building partially constructed and completed from January and February 2021.”

It said those images were “additionally corroborated through the review of the site using Google Earth Images which shows the presence of the building as of July 19, 2021 on historic imagery”.

“As the building would amount to operational development, the applicant would need to demonstrate that the building had been substantially completed more than four years before the submission of the certificate application. In this case, the applicant has demonstrated that the building has been there for four years.”

A certificate of lawful development was granted by park planners.