Development on 1,000 acres of land at Garth, near Builth Wells, will be stifled for the next four years, as the Assembly bids to safeguard hard rock resources.
Residents claim the area will be blighted, with only minor developments such as home extensions and agricultural buildings likely to be allowed, even though some of the area will never be quarried because of the existence of roads, homes and sites of special scientific interest.
Powys County Council’s Board recommended to the full council at a meeting on Tuesday to press ahead with the changes, which will block major development in the area, rather than risk fines of hundreds of thousands of pounds. Members are fully expecting a second public enquiry due to the number of objections, as a result of their recommendation.
The Assembly has directed Powys County Council to change its Unitary Development Plan to protect the hard rock reserves, otherwise the plan cannot be adopted and the council could risk unlimited fines.
The issue has already gone to a public inquiry once, when evidence was submitted which challenged the quality of the mineral resource. The inspector recommended that the area to the north of Garth should not be safeguarded. As a result, the Assembly and Powys County Council co-funded the British Geological Survey to carry out work to confirm the quality of the rock.
The BGS’s report confirmed the existence of the hard rock used as non-slip surfaces and as a result the Assembly directed the council to change its UDP to protect the resource.
At a Board meeting on Tuesday, portfolio holder for regeneration and development Councillor Wynne Jones said that if the council wanted to adopt the UDP they had no alternative but to make the modifications to protect the hard rock. He said the Assembly was not prepared to allow anything other than minor developments in the Garth area.
Local member Councillor David Price said the community was extremely angry and upset. “We are talking about 1,000 acres, quite a number of houses, roads and SSSIs that we know will never ever be quarried despite being in the safeguarded area. If there was to be a ring put around the quarry area that would be accepted. What this means is that the area will become a planning blight.”
Councillor Price said the Assembly was due to present a mineral map of Wales which is likely to show up areas that will be far better for hard rock reserves with better access to trunk roads to move the rock.
“It seems ridiculous that we are pushing ahead with this when a body of work which will be presented within a matter of months will give a better picture of what is available,” he said.
He asked if there was any other ways the council could approach the problem.
Councillor Wynne Jones said: “I feel for the community and the unnecessary blight that this has put on them. The situation is as simple as this – either we make the modifications safeguarding what the Assembly wants or we make a decision not to proceed with the Unitary Development Plan, abandon it, and start the Local Development Plan and leave ourselves open to fines which could cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.”
A final decision on the Board’s recommendation to modify the unitary development plan to safeguard the hard rock resources, will be made by the full council on May 14.
