Bruce Sinclair, Local Democracy Reporter
Twice-refused plans for a new ‘traveller site’ on the outskirts of a seaside village are being recommended to be turned down for a third time.
At the start of this year a scheme previously refused in 2025 for the creation of a traveller site of one static caravan, one touring caravan, a day/utility room and ecological enhancements (partly retrospective) on land at Froghall Yard, Moreton Lane, Saundersfoot, was again turned down by the national park.
Nearly 300 people had signed a petition against the scheme and the objection to the application by David ‘Dai’ Evans of Pontypool, through agents Hayston Developments & Planning Ltd, was also shared by Saundersfoot’s community council.
A supporting statement accompanying the application stated the applicant belonged to a long-standing Romany Gypsy family, currently at an overcrowded Traveller site in Pontypool.
It said Mr Evans and his family had stayed in a touring caravan at the Saundersfoot site each summer since the late 1980s, and he bought, cleared and refurbished the site in 2023.
The original application was refused because of its unacceptable impact on the landscape and the lack of capacity for caravan development in that part of the national park.
A resubmitted application, aimed at addressing previous concerns, was again refused on similar grounds to previously at the January meeting of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park’s development management committee.
The third application said “many aspects of the site clearance were undertaken before the current owner/applicant bought the land” in 2023 and added: “It is totally unreasonable and unacceptable by the authority to place all the blame on the applicant for these works.”
It said the applicant and their partner lived at Upper Race, a Gypsy site on the outskirts of Pontypool, which “is very crowded and cramped with very poor facilities and is often a dangerous place to reside on due to frequent family feuds”.
It said the applicant had “identified and demonstrated an urgent need for appropriate alternative accommodation”.
Officials recommended refusing the latest application at the development management committee meeting on October 21 because of the lack of landscape capacity, local landscape impact and harm to the National Park’s special qualities.
Saundersfoot Community Council has objected again, while a “significant number” of public objections have been received, including one from a planning agent representing local residents.
An officer’s report said the Pembrokeshire Gypsy Traveller Accommodation Assessment 2019 identified an immediate need for nine pitches from 2019 to 2024 and a further 30 from 2025 to 2033, while the county council had so far granted permission for 14 pitches.
It said the council’s latest local development plan could allocate land for a total of 31 more pitches at nearby Kingsmoor and Haverfordwest’s Withybush, with a new local-authority site also proposed south of Monkton Playing Fields in Pembroke.
On the Froghall scheme, it said the applicant was not homeless, giving “moderate weight” to the need for a Gypsy site in planning terms.
National park planners will also consider enforcement action linked to the Froghall site on October 21.
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