Fishguard restaurant and holiday let plans to be revisited
An approved application to convert a disused garage into a restaurant and holiday lets will be revisited by planners next week, after it transpired local people were not fully informed of the scheme.
The application in the town’s conservation area, submitted by Orwell Pine Co Ltd, for the restaurant/café and three apartments in Fishguard’s Lower Town was recommended for – and given – conditional approval at the March meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s planning committee.
It was approved subject to the completion of a Section 106 legal agreement, and conditions including the implementation of flood mitigation measures.
Since then, some Lower Town residents have said they were denied a chance to comment on the plans, as no planning notifications were available on-site, meaning they knew nothing of the plans until it was too late to comment.
Resident Claire Evans previously said: “Very telling is the fact that as soon as I discovered that approval had been given, I telephoned the case officer to investigate how this could have happened without our knowledge.
“I was astonished to be told that: ‘The planning office did not send out letters advising of the application to the neighbouring houses because they thought the neighbouring houses were all holiday lets’.”
At the April meeting of the council’s planning committee, Chairman Cllr Jacob Williams informed members the application would be revisited.
He expressed his concern at residents not being part of the consultation process, members hearing details of the application had been placed on an area not immediately visible to all.
The application will now be heard at the May 23 committee and is recommended for approval.
A report for planners, ahead of that meeting, states: “Further to the [March] planning committee meeting the head of planning was made aware that a number of local residents were unaware of the application.”
The report states that, while the application was publicised on the site frontage to Quay Street, there was no notice onto Newport Road.
It adds: “Given the application remains undetermined due to the pending aforementioned S106, the council can lawfully bring this application back to the planning committee.
“A further publicity exercise has been undertaken notifying the owners/occupiers of adjacent and nearby properties by letter of the proposal. The representations received both in objection and support of the proposal have been considered in this updated report.”
By BBC LDRS
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