Saundersfoot traveller site plans rejected for third time

Plans for a contentious new ‘traveller site’ on the outskirts of Saundersfoot have been rejected for the third time.

A scheme refused in 2025 for a traveller site with one static caravan, one touring caravan, a day room and ecological improvements at Froghall Yard, Moreton Lane, Saundersfoot, was rejected again by the National Park early this year.

Nearly 300 people signed a petition against the scheme, while Saundersfoot Community Council also opposed the application by David ‘Dai’ Evans of Pontypool, submitted through agents Hayston Developments & Planning Ltd.

A supporting statement said the applicant belonged to a long-standing Romany Gypsy family living at an overcrowded Traveller site in Pontypool.

It said Mr Evans and his family had stayed in a touring caravan at the Saundersfoot site each summer since the late 1980s, before he bought, cleared and refurbished it in 2023.

Previous applications were refused because the scheme would harm the landscape and there was no capacity for caravan development in that part of the national park.

A third application, recommended for refusal by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority planners at their October 21 meeting, said “many aspects of the site clearance were undertaken before the current owner/applicant bought the land” in 2023 and added: “It is totally unreasonable and unacceptable by the authority to place all the blame on the applicant for these works.”

Saundersfoot Community Council objected again, alongside a “significant number” of public objections, including one from a planning agent representing local residents.

At the meeting, officers said a further reason for refusal was being considered after the reports were prepared: concerns about connecting to the mains sewer system.

Objector Helen Williams, speaking for residents of nearby Incline Way, said the latest application was “trying to pull the wool over the eyes” of planners by blaming previous owners for unapproved works.

She warned approval would “set a very dangerous precedent”, adding: “If this application is approved the applicant won’t abide by any conditions”.

Lynne Garnett of the Travelling Ahead Community Planning Project, which provides planning advice and support to Gypsy and Traveller families, said local authorities were “constantly failing in their duties” to provide enough sites for gypsy travellers, a “systemic failure” in provision leaving them “no alternative but to buy land” for their own housing.

She said prejudice against the community “is enormous, as the orchestrated opposition to this one pitch has demonstrated,” while Traveller families in Wales were “forced into renting poor quality accommodation with no alternative” in a “chronic accommodation crisis”.

Agent Andrew Vaughan-Harries said the scheme offered substantial environmental mitigation and suggested deferring the decision to investigate a solution to the foul water issue rather than “bringing this back for a fourth time”.

Mr Vaughan-Harries, a former planning officer for local authorities including the national park, said the national park had not approved a Gypsy Traveller site in decades.

Cllr Clare George moved that the recommendation be supported, with county councillor for Saundersfoot’s south ward, Cllr Chris Williams seconding her.

Members refused the application and later approved a possible enforcement notice if the promised caravan removal and other conditions were not carried out.

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The National Park had previously served an enforcement notice requiring the site to be returned to its previous condition, with an unauthorised shed and caravan later prompting further enforcement consideration.