Councillors "sadly" refuse village green application at former Bronllys primary school
An application for village green status to be given to a site near Brecon which includes part of a former primary school playing area has been rejected by councillors
At a meeting of the Powys County Council’s (PCC) Planning committee on Thursday, March 12, councillors were acting as the “commons registration authority” to decide a village green application.
The application had been lodged by Bronllys Green Group with the council back in April 2020 – although they had made earlier attempts to submit the application going back to 2018.
The site in question is part of the playing area of the former Bronllys primary school and the adjoining play area at Neuadd Terrace.
But it does not include the ground where the now demolished school building once stood.
In April 2022 the council’s housing service objected to the village green application.
This followed the council being given planning permission in September 2021 to build a mix of one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom homes, along with bungalows on the site.
At a Planning committee meeting in August 2022, councillors agreed that an independent planning inspector should be brought in to examine the application and provide a recommendation for the council which would be discussed by councillors.
Granting the site village green status would reduce the development from 17 to eight houses.
Last November, a two-day hearing was held in Bronllys by Planning and Environment Decisions Wales, who received arguments for and against the proposal.
Planning inspector Siân Worden had provided a report and recommendation on the application which was presented to councillors by countryside access and recreation professional lead officer Sian Barnes.
Ms Barnes explained that the crux of the application was whether or not the site met the legal criteria for registration as set out in the Commons Act.
Ms Barnes told councillors that the inspector had said that that the application stacked up in one area and that there had been recreational use of the land over the necessary 20-year period.
But it did not meet the criteria in another area called “statutory incompatibility” which is a “bar to registration.”
Ms Barnes explained that statutory incompatibility is when land is held for a “good public purpose” by a public body.
Ms Barnes said: “The inspector notes in her report, the land has been appropriated for education and then later for housing – so it is held for a good public purpose.
“The inspector recommends that the application is refused and the land not registered.”
Councillor Gareth E Jones (Powys Independents – Llanelwedd) asked whether permission by a headteacher to use the field would have a bearing on the application.
Ms Barnes said: “That would be incompatible with the school’s statutory purpose.”
Councillor Angela Davies (Liberal Democrat – Rhayader) said: “The legalities around this have been explained. I feel very sorry for the community for losing the green space, but there’s no grounds to go against the recommendation.”
The committee then went to a vote which saw 10 councillors vote in favour of rejecting the application and one vote against the refusal.
