Villagers in St Lythans have lost a four-year-long running battle to stop barns for livestock being built near their homes.
Vale of Glamorgan Council’s planning committee approved an application for two buildings on land west of the village at a meeting on Thursday, March 27th.
The application, which was first made in 2021, has been amended over the years to address residents concerns, which range from fears over the potential impact on the landscape to worries about the potential noise nuisance, smell and impact on traffic.
A resident of St Lythans, Alan Richardson, who spoke on behalf of people in opposition to the plan said sheep and cows would be moved to and from the site on mass “in an ever-revolving system”.
He added: “It is clear this system will result in a constant flow of animals to and from the site by large transportation vehicles, daily visits at least twice or more by the farm workers…the constant transport of food and other equipment to site and the transport of manure and waste bedding off site.”
A council planning report states access to the site is already “relatively wide” and part of the hedgerow can be moved from one place to another to make it wider.
There is also a proposal in the planning application to use the managed raising of hedgerow in order to screen the barns from residents’ view.
Ieuan Williams, speaking on behalf of the applicant, told the planning committee last week that delays to a decision have had a “significant impact” on the farmer’s business.
He said the applicant has continually had to adapt to “cope with the inadequate buildings” he currently has available and he has “suffered losses of livestock for want of adequate shelter”.
Mr Williams added: “The applicant started his business from nothing and has accumulated land over the years… however, his buildings are scattered and do not meet modern standards.”
He said this was the only land available to the applicant which can be used for the plans.
The proposed barns are within 400m of peoples’ homes in St Lythans.
However, the council's planning document on the scheme said although the structures will be large, “it is not considered that the proposal is close enough to existing dwellings for the development to be regarded as being visually overbearing on neighbouring properties”.
Mr Richardson was not satisfied the report properly considered his concerns, particularly those regarding traffic.
He again went on to say traffic to and from the site will be frequent and residents are “faced with a high-intensity year-round livestock development”.
In terms of traffic, the council’s planners acknowledged the presence of farm buildings is likely to result in more traffic.
However, they added the amount of traffic using the access to the site would “still be relatively small”.
Mr Williams said the proposed development is “not an intensive livestock unit” and there has been a “lot of misunderstanding of the operation on site”.
He added: “It is not a year-round housing unit for all of the cattle. It will serve a traditional Vale of Glamorgan mixed farm where crops are grown [to] feed the livestock and manure arising fertilises those crops."
“The buildings have multiple uses. During the winter they will house cattle that graze [on] the farm. In the spring they provide lambing facilities.”
He said the buildings will not be used to house cattle routinely during the summer months and livestock will be bedded on straw from the applicant’s land. It is hoped this will also help reduce odour emissions.
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