A resubmitted scheme for two glamping holiday pods as part of a Ceredigion farm diversification scheme has again been refused by county planners on the grounds of an embargo on new ‘static’ holiday units near the coast.

In an application to Ceredigion County Council, Huw Jones sought permission for the glamping pods at Bryn Farm cattle farm, Y Ferwig, near Cardigan.

Part of Ceredigion’s Local Development Plan includes an embargo on additional static caravans and chalets in the ‘Coastal Area,’ favouring caravan pitches in that area instead.

“The reason for the embargo is that that the provision of static caravans is already high in the ‘Coastal Area’ both in terms of overall numbers and as a proportion of accommodation type.

This intention of the embargo is to prevent static caravans from overly dominating the accommodation provision in the area,” a report for members on the council’s planning committee on a previous unrelated scheme has said.

An officer report recommending refusal for the Y Ferwig proposals said: “The application site has previously seen the refusal of an application seeking authorisation for the emplacement of what the applicant referred to as two ‘Glamping Pods’ replacing the extant caravan which was ultimately refused on the grounds that their degree of permanency would be contrary to the embargo on chalets in the coastal area of Ceredigion established via LDP policy LU14.

“Furthermore, the application was also refused on the grounds that there was inadequate justification for the loss of existing hedgerow intended to form a vehicular access [contrary to policy].”

It said the latest proposal was aimed to address previous reasons for refusal, but the application presented “differs from the previously received [scheme] only by way of the submission of a hedgerow translocation statement/plan which indicates the replanting of a hedgerow to the east of the extant caravan to enable a cut through intended for vehicular parking.”

It said the previous scheme was assessed as “owing to the large size of both proposed units and need for significant hard standing that the scheme would be contrary [to policy], as the proposed would be more akin to chalets rather than glamping units, requiring substantial ancillary works that would permanently affect the design and layout of the site”.

It added: “Whilst information has been provided addressing refusal reasons pertaining to design and visual impact as well as ecology concerns, the [authority] remains of the opinion that the proposed units should in fact be assessed as chalets owing to their scale and degree of permanency and therefore assess the proposed scheme as being contrary to LDP policy as a result of their siting within the coastal region of Ceredigion west of the A487 Trunk Road. The proposal therefore remains of an unacceptable principle and is recommended for refusal.”

The application was refused on the grounds of the continued embargo on new permanent tourist accommodation in the county’s coastal areas.