A £90 million college expansion in Carmarthenshire will provide an “opportunity to change lives”, its acting principal has said.

Vanessa Cashmore was addressing the council’s planning committee about Coleg Sir Gar’s proposal to modernise and expand its Pibwrlwyd Campus on the outskirts of Carmarthen.

The new Campws Caerfyrddin development will feature four new buildings for some 3,340 students and 270 staff, more than doubling the existing onsite provision.

Students will learn a range of skills including electric and hybrid vehicle maintenance.

There’ll be a new car park, coach drop-off point, gym, multi-use games area, landscaping and tree and hedgerow planting although many trees and a hedgerow will be lost.

The largest of the four buildings will be for hair and beauty, catering, the school of art, general teaching and include a library, cafe and atrium. The other three will be for construction, plastering, plumbing, gas, electrical, green skills, painting and decorating courses, with one of them also hosting school of art space. They’ll all face inwards to a central landscaped area.

Objectors were worried about the impact on protected species and the loss of trees and farmland. Also a concern was the impact on the existing grade-two-listed Pibwrlwyd Farmhouse, the effect on Pibwrlwyd Lane residents, and the continued access to the campus via the lane rather than the nearby A484.

The committee voted in favour of the application subject to environment regulator Natural Resources Wales agreeing with the conclusions of a habitats regulations assessment, with only ward member Cllr Elwyn Williams abstaining.

The project will mean Coleg Sir Gar’s existing campuses in Ammanford and Jobs Well, Carmarthen, being decanted of students and staff. The plan caused an outcry in some quarters in Ammanford when it was announced in 2024.

Ms Cashmore, who is also acting principal of Coleg Ceredigion, said the proposals were about more than new buildings. “They are an opportunity to change lives and enable generations of learners across Carmarthenshire to build a prosperous future for themselves,” she said.

Outward migration of talent would be reduced, she said, with new “industry-standard workshops” onsite and a curriculum aligning with the skills employers needed in growth areas such as green technologies.

She added that half of Coleg Sir Gar’s existing estate was in a poor or high risk condition, and that minimising disruption for Pibwrlwyd Lane residents was a key project objective.

Objector Julian Parker said land proposed for the expansion was a protected site under the 2017 Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations which had trees, hedges and important scrubland for animals.

Otters, said Mr Parker, had been seen in a watercourse behind residents’ homes.

He said: “Residents are very keen to protect the connected waterways for all the wildlife including newts, kingfishers, bats and particularly the very rare hazel dormouse.”

Mr Parker pointed out the council’s own built heritage officer had objected due to the impact on the grade two listed farmhouse. He added that extra traffic would be generated at the nearby Pensarn roundabout, whose internal links were, he said, already at “100% saturation”.

A planning report before the committee said it was expected that 1,100 students and staff would be on the campus at any one time due to the way the timetabling would work.

It said the existing Pibwrlwyd Lane access would be widened and a secondary one created for deliveries and certain other users. New pedestrian and cycling infrastructure would be added too.

The report said the site was part of land earmarked for strategic mixed-use development including education under the council’s over-arching development plan.

Referring to the built heritage objection, the report said the officer acknowledged that much of the original context to the listed farmhouse had been eroded by the development of college buildings, car parks and houses over the years.

It said although larger buildings would take shape near the farmhouse, their impact would be softened via landscaping and that the farmhouse would still be viewed as “the historic core of the college” of which it forms part.

Add to this the “significant public benefit” of a modernised campus, it said, and the negative farmhouse impact was on balance outweighed.

Meanwhile, the number of replacement trees would exceed the number felled by more than three to one, while a new 200m hedgerow is to be planted along the site’s northern boundary.

Planning officer Helen Rice said the project would be done in two phases: firstly the construction of the four new buildings between 2027 and 2029; then a year-long demolition of existing buildings, except for the farmhouse, and the creation of the new car park. During construction work a temporary access is proposed directly from the A484.

Cllr Gareth Thomas described it as a “wow” application which would develop skills needed by employers. Cllr Dorian Phillips said he hoped it would lead to more apprentices coming through in the building trade as “they are in short supply”. Cllr Terry Davies said apprenticeships “desperately” needed increasing.

Cllr Dai Nicholas said he was concerned about the impact on Ammanford of the loss of its campus should the plans be approved, and wondered if all avenues had been explored in this regard.

Cllr Wiliams he understood the reaction of the residents he represented but that the campus would also be an opportunity to be a big employment centre. “I’m undecided to be honest with you,” he said.

Coleg Sir Gar and Coleg Ceredigion have welcomed the committee’s approval and said there would be no gap in education provision during its development.

Coleg Sir Gar added that it was exploring alternative opportunities to support education provision in the Ammanford area although the campus would “not be used for future delivery”.

The £90 million Campws Caerfyrddin project is to delivered under a Welsh Government mutual investment scheme which has been used in other major capital projects.