Trapped....no chance of being able to sell

Trapped..........................no chance of being able to sell

SSSI/SAC - The adjacent property when we moved here.

October 2005.......We were living adjacent to an unauthorised haulage yard - an unauthorised equine business - an unauthorised shed which towers over our small cottage - pigs situated under our bedroom window - a board blocking our window (E. Bowen named it our neighbours privacy board) - a very large blue removal lorry parked across our windows - more scrap vehicles next to our gate - a drainage pipe directing rainwater onto our garden area - two boarded over gates blocking our right of way - the welsh flag hanging over it - and now a floodlight (on all night) directed straight into our bedroom window illuminating it with a horrid orange glow.  As well as this we were being bullied and intimidated on a daily basis.

Floodlight directed at our bedroom window.

 It would be serious enough if we had been the first to complain to Carmarthen Council about the disturbances from these industrial businesses, but we weren't.  This Council - E. Bowen - Brian Canning - and many others, including the Chief Executive Mark James,  all knew that others had complained about the disturbances, and had been driven out.  They knew exactly what was to befall us, when we too were to complain to them.  

The big question was always - why was this authorities Head of Planning/Enforcement allowing these people to run businesses without any planning consents and changes of use.   I would call this corrupt practice and it was affecting every day of our lives affecting our quality of life and the value of our home. 

Code of Conduct...
  
13.0   Corruption

13.1   Employees must be aware that it is a serious criminal offence for them corruptly to receive or give any gift, loan, fee, reward or advantage for doing, or not doing anything or showing favour, or disfavour, to any person in their official capacity.  Allegations of this nature will be investigated/dealt with in accordance with the council's disciplinary procedure.

'Favour'  As Carmarthen Council's Head of Planning/Enforcement was allowing certain individuals to run businesses without planning consents and changes of use, plus turning a blind eye to payment of business rates - this would be deemed giving 'favour'.  He was also allowing an industrial unit to retain 'agricultural rights' which allowed further unauthorised activities to flourish when applying for further sheds - quarrying etc. etc. etc. These applications and activities would not have been given consents under 'equine use' and as for the 'industrial use' - that would have been refused by the planning committee and would not have been taking place at all.


November 2005........Where are the horses??

The horses that had been living on the adjacent land to ours were gone.   I was soon to find out where they were, and the true purpose for the gigantic shed that now loomed over us.   The planning application for this shed was for 'storage of agricultural implements hay and tractor store'.  Why was the tractor always parked on their front yard, and as they didn't keep hay, the application for this shed clearly wasn't the true reason for needing it.  This shed was a giant stable for the quine business.  This is where the horses were kept for the winter months.   In planning terms, this is 'unauthorised use' as there was no application for the keeping of equines in the shed, and there should have been.

There are many other horsey people who run livery yards and who breed and sell horses who would have given their right arm to be given the favours bestowed upon these hauliers and horse breeders by Carmarthen Council's Head of Planning E. Bowen; as they had been allowed to avoid planning permissions - changes of use - allowed to keep agricultural rights, that under normal circumstances only bone fide farmers are allowed, and business rates that should have been paid to the council for both businesses were also ignored.   WOW.

It would have been obvious to most, that the many horses bred at Blaenpant would need to be kept elsewhere for the winter months, as the Special Area of Conservation they had been kept on over the past four years was severely overgrazed and needed to be rested.  Blaenpant did boast other land on higher ground, but as it was extremely boggy and literally covered in rushes, it was not ideal for horses as there was very little grass.  (I was told over many years by E. Bowen, the agricultural activity at Blaenpant was cropping of hay). This was to excuse 'agricultural rights'.   Ummmm - where would the hay cropping have taken place?  Certainly not at Blaenpant: the only fields apart from the SAC were the fields smothered in rushes.  Unless horses have taken to eating rush there was no hay cropping on this unit.  More dishonesty; all very troubling to me as this is far removed from conduct one should expect from the local authority.

I decided to point out to Mr. Eifion Bowen that if he was to exercise his role as Head of Planning and Enforcement he should take heed that the gigantic shed was being used for the equine business not as per the planning application; it required change of use to 'equine'.   It didn't much bother us that horses were being over wintered in the shed, but it was deeply concerning that the Head of Planning Carmarthen Council was ignoring his own statutory duties and allowing more dishonest practices to carry on without control.  It was quite obvious he was giving the neighbours 'favour'.  This didn't bode well for our well being nor our own property investment.  My concern was - where will this giving 'favour'  to these hauliers end, and what effect was it going to have on our property and our quality of life living here. 

Mr. Bowen Head of Planning/Enforcement carried out a site visit to the unauthorised haulage yard, and later was to write and tell me that there was no sign of horses in the sheds.  I was making 'unfounded allegations'.  Really.........

Could these be the horses in the shed???????????

These blatant lies are disgraceful when coming from ones local authority and should never be tolerated.  They should be exposed by politicians from all parties.

This shed was just the beginning

Officers Code of Conduct.

2.1 Planning is not an exact science. Rather, it relies on informed judgement within a firm policy context. It is also highly contentious because its decisions affect the daily lives of everyone and the private interests of individuals, landowners and developers. This is heightened by the openness of the system (it actively invites public opinion before taking decisions) and the legal nature of development plans and decision notices. It is important, therefore, that the process is characterised by open and transparent decision making. 2.2 One of the key purposes of the planning system is to control development in the public interest. In performing this role, planning necessarily affects land and property interests, particularly the financial value of landholdings and the quality of their settings. It is important, therefore, that planning authorities should make planning decisions affecting these interests, openly, impartially, with sound judgement and for justifiable reasons. The process should leave no grounds for suggesting with any justification that a decision has been partial, biased or not well-founded in any way. 2.3 The purpose of this code is to set out clearly the way in which the authority will deal with planning applications. The code applies to both Councillors and Officers.

Everything that has been allowed over the many years, at the adjacent property, flies in the face of this Code.

People can find planning problems a bore - it ceases to become a bore when it affects every aspect of ones life.