TEMPORARY accommodation at a farm in the Gwendraeth Valley has been approved.

An application was submitted to Carmarthenshire County Council by Mr C Howells for temporary accommodation on land at Pontabraham Farm, Cross Hands, in order to satisfy rural enterprise dwelling requirements.

The temporary accommodation would be built on 0.12 hectares of agricultural land and will be made from timber walls, metal sheet roof and PVCu windows and doors.

The application is part of a more comprehensive business model to expand the existing farming business owned by the applicant.

Mr Howells has been a farmer since 2003 and currently has a successful lambing business at Pontabraham Farm. There are plans to return to calf rearing as part of the Buitelaar nationally recognised breeding programme, with the aim of nurturing around 2,400 calves per annum in the first 12 months and producing rare breed beef for local consumption.

At present, Mr Howells and his wife live in Foelgastell and operate the business from Pontabraham Farm, but to ensure that they can operate in a sustainable and economically efficient way, an agricultural worker will need to live at the farm to allow for an agricultural worker to be available at all times for animal welfare purposes, as well as for security and to develop a unique business link between farming and the hospitality services sector.

On January 3, the council approved the plans with 10 conditions, including that the temporary accommodation is only allowed to be in place for three years from the date of approval and after this time, must be taken down completely, with the land being returned to its original state, and the building must be built in line with the approved plans.

Also, the accommodation can only be occupied by “a person solely or mainly working, or last working on a rural enterprise in the locality, or a widow, widower or surviving civil partner of such a person, and to any resident dependants; or if it can be demonstrated that there are no such eligible occupiers, a person or persons who would be eligible for consideration for affordable housing under the local authority’s housing policies, or a widow, widower or surviving civil partner of such a person, and to any resident dependants.”

There are also conditions surrounding the construction and schemes that must be submitted to the council, as well as with the materials and surface water and work can only be carried out to build the accommodation between 7.30am and 6pm, Monday to Friday, and 8am to 2pm on Saturday.