PLANS to keep buildings as dog breeding kennels in Llandybie have been approved.

The plans were submitted by Mr R Bartlett and S K Oxenham Whistance for the property Pantybara in Llandybie.

The buildings were converted into breeding kennels in 2020 for Celtic Star Kennels.

The application relates to two existing buildings which have been used for the dog breeding business. The buildings have been used for dog breeding purposes throughout the past few decades but there has been a ‘significant amount of investment and dramatic improvement on standards and conditions for the animals it houses’ and the larger building is now split into a series of pens for the breeding and show dogs, food preparation, grooming and general storage areas.

There are external exercise yards and a single storey building to house the breeding studs.

It is part of the applicant’s 63 acre holding which has a mixture of agricultural enclosures and pockets of woodland as well as other buildings including the applicant’s main home and another building used by the previous owners for dog breeding but this is not used by the applicants due to its substandard condition.

The applicants have bred dogs since 2015, when they were first licensed by Carmarthenshire County Council. The applicants moved into the residential building on the property in 2020 and later learnt that the previous owners used it as a breeding centre since 2003 but did not carry out licensed breeding at the property and did not operate the premises for a high standard of animal welfare.

The current applicants have invested a ‘significant amount’ into the redevelopment and enhancement of the kennels to provide a high standard of welfare for the dogs they keep.

The property currently has a licence for 38 adult dogs, which consists of 29 breeding bitches, six studs and five retired dogs.

There will be one full time member of staff and two part time members of staff. Dogs will be kept inside at all times outside of the 9am to 6pm window where they will be allowed outside to the external runs and exercise yards and all solid waste from the dogs is collected in sealed skips that are regularly collected by a certified contractor, with urine collected from the dogs drained into the holding’s septic tank which is then emptied regularly.

On September 15, Carmarthenshire County Council approved the plans with the conditions that as it is a retrospective application, the work will have been done by May 2023 and carried out in accordance with the approved plans, the noise level should not exceed the current background noise levels and a noise assessment must be submitted within one month of written notice from the council and noise from dog barks should not exceed a specific decibel.

Another condition is that the dogs are housed indoors in the kennels outside of the hours of 9am to 6pm and there is not to be more than one visitor to the site at any time.