IHBC NewsBlog has received the following amendment to the NewsBlog of June 3rd 2015 in which it was reported that ‘Groups including the Country Landowners’ Association have expressed concern about the Authority’ s policy on barn conversions and a move to set a fee of £90,000 per conversion’.
IHBC Newsblog has received the following statement from the NPA:
‘The Supplementary Planning Guidance is not in draft or out for consultation as your article suggests it was accepted at the National Park Authority meeting on 22 May 2015.’
And including a press release as follows:
A spokeswoman for Brecon Beacons National Park Authority said: “There seems to be some misinterpretation of the purpose of the Supplementary Planning Guidance. The adopted policy of the National Park Authority, in line with Welsh Government Planning Policy, and found sound by PINs at examination in 2013, is to secure economic reuses of redundant barns, with some provision for the use of such buildings for affordable housing and/or rural enterprise dwellings where there is a need. The policy itself is explicitly restrictive of open market residential conversions. The newly adopted guidance provides some flexibility to this policy position by enabling applicants for open market residential conversions to meet the requirements of the policy by equivalent financial contribution. It also provides flexibility for farming families, allowing them to occupy barn conversions without the contribution to affordable housing until such time as the property might be sold on the open market, and is also flexible in the instances of saving buildings of local or national significance, for example Listed buildings.
“Supplementary planning guidance aims to ensure that we encourage rural regeneration and enable appropriate development in the countryside which allows farming businesses and developers to continue to bring forward appropriate planning applications. We know it might not be popular with everyone but we think it is a fair way of interpreting national policy. The Authority has reviewed the evidence in relation to the implementation of the adopted policy and is satisfied that the policy is bringing about its stated aims, that is, to encourage the reuse of barns for economic reuses. The number of applications are broadly equivalent to that prior to the adoption of the policy, however whereas the majority of these used to be for housing, they are now for economic uses, such as workshops for local crafts people or holiday lets. This indicates to us that the policy does not present a barrier to development and it’s an effective tool in providing economic regeneration within countryside locations. The Local Development Plan process is one of continuous review and accordingly, the evidence relating this policy position will be reviewed as part of the planned review which commences in 2017.”
