Plans for a holiday letting cabin on a Ceredigion farm to provide an income for a WASPI woman affected by changes in her state pension have been turned down partly because the business was in a “catch 22” situation.

In an application recommended for refusal at the October 9 meeting of Ceredigion County Council’s development management committee, Mr and Mrs P & M Stephens & Drewett, Blaenarthen, Brongest sought permission to erect a single storey holiday letting cabin along with associated landscaping and the relocation of an existing sub-standard farm access.

The application, brought to committee at the request of local member Cllr Maldwyn Lewis, was recommended for refusal on the grounds that policy did not support cabins for holiday use on new tourism sites, and potential negative impact on the landscape.

Cllr Lewis in his statement of request for the committee to consider the scheme, said it would diversify the smallholding and provide an opportunity to support their income, adding he “was aware that one of the applicants have been affected by WASPI and therefore, have to continue working to provide an income”.

A report for members said the planning history dated back to March 2021, with committee members then requesting the agent on behalf of the applicant withdrew the application and consider relocating the cabin closer to the farmhouse.

An amended plan was received in November 2022, re-siting the cabin some three metres.

The report added: “In terms of the amended proposal, the local planning authority continue to object to the proposed development, as the cabin has only been re-sited by just over three metres closer to the main farm, which represents a very minor change to the original proposal, and thus the concerns initially raised with regards to its visual impact remain the same.

“The principle of development also remains unacceptable. The LPA therefore continue to recommend that the application is refused, for the same reasons.”

The application was later considered by the committee’s ‘cooling-off’ group, with the agent provided further information in support of the application in the form of a Tourism Impact Assessment.

Members were of the view that no other material planning considerations had been advanced to outweigh planning policy and “there was insufficient farming activity taking place at the holding to be able to cogently consider the proposal as a farm diversification scheme”.

At the meeting Cllr Lewis said the farm activities had been much reduced due to personal circumstances, with the proposed holiday let intended to bring in more income.

Cllr Gareth Lloyd expressed his sympathies, but said policy didn’t support the scheme, describing the situation faced by the applicant as “catch 22” one, saying the diversification couldn’t be supported because the farm business was reducing.

“If we support this we would be entirely going against policy. Unfortunately, I will have to go with the officers and refuse this because policies don’t support it.”

WASPI

For decades, men who had made enough National Insurance contributions received their state pension at 65 and women at 60, but this was changed to the state pension for women gradually increasing to 65, between 2010 and 2020.

However, in 2010, the coalition government accelerated the timetable, leading to the formation of the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign seeking compensation for 1950s-born women affected by short notice changes to their state pension age.