PLANNING officers have rejected a retrospective bid to reclassify a holiday home in Ceredigion as a residential dwelling.

The change of use application for what was previously two holiday units at Cwmtegryd, near Capel Dewi, had been submitted last summer in preperation of a potential sale.

The application was seeking full planning permission to validate the house known as The Dairy which has been modified internally to be used as a four bedroom holiday accommodation, according to application forms, and now a four bedroom residential dwelling.

The decision comes as planning officers also rejected family’s plan to build an affordable home on agricultural land in Felinwynt, on the road between Y Ferwig and Aberporth, north of Aberteifi.

Both the holiday home and the site, adjacent to Maes yr Awel, where a family hoped to build an affordable home are considered as an ‘other locations’ under planning guidelines where development is strictly controlled. 

The restrictions on building and use are intended to protect aginst development, by only allowing limited types of applications, but also demonstrates some of the pressures on land use in rural areas.

The only external change to the holiday home, near Capel Dewi, was the replacement of one front door with a large window.

But report from a planning officer stated the site is not sustainable as a residential area and is suitable only for holiday let use with open market dwellings not permitted in open countryside locations.

It adds that “previous consent was granted for the conversion of the building into holiday accommodation. Local policy is still supportive of this type of development however, the conversion of buildings to full-time residential dwellings within ‘other locations’ are not supported.”

National planning policy is also not met in terms of open countryside guidelines, the report states, and the application has been refused.

A planning statement provided by agents Archi-Tech for the site near Aberteifi, highlighted the need for the applicant to stay in the local area to support elderly and disabled relatives as well as the desire to use family land in light of significant plot costs elsewhere. 

“It gives this young family an opportunity to get their own dwelling and remain to live and work within the area,” it adds. 

An officer’s report also states that the scale parameters provided in the outline application – which would be followed by a more detailed reserved matters plan if approved – would allow for a house “significantly larger” than the maximum standards for an affordable dwelling. 

The potential for a two-storey house next to single storey homes, along  with the location and scale “would have a detrimental impact on the landscape and character of the area,” the report added.