A FARMER was told he couldn’t put up a new barn on his land because his local council questioned if it was needed for agricultural use.
Mark Fisher has now made a second bid to construct a barn to store hay and a tractor at his near six hectare Ty Llwyd Farm in Llanfrechfa, south of Cwmbran.
Torfaen Borough Council had also previously said the barn would have been too big and prominent in the South Eastern Lowlands, that it has designated a special landscape area, and it would have a detrimental impact on a nearby oak tree, estimated to be 250 years old.
As a result Mr Fisher has reduced the size of the barn to 20.1 metres in length and it will be 5.1 metres tall at its highest point, which is described as in keeping with other barns in the area as are the building materials that include “hit and miss” vertical timber boarding for walls and a natural grey roof.
The roof, described as a “big six profile” will have four roof lights of the same profile and there will be a single steel roller shutter door. It will be 42 metres away from the farmhouse.
The development will avoid the oak tree’s root protection area and the application states it will also mean a section of the access track that runs over the root protection area will be decommissioned which will “enhance the tree’s health”.
The council is being asked to agree the revised plans mean the barn can be put up under permitted development rights for agricultural buildings without the need for a full planning application.