A LARGE wooden “summer house” that was used as an Airbnb without permission will be allowed to stand.
An enforcement inquiry had been launched by council planning chiefs after it became known that an outbuilding was being used as holiday accommodation without permission in an area of Talywain in Pontypool known as The British.
They have now agreed the outbuilding, described by claimant Roger Rudge of Number 8 Elizabeth Row as a ‘summer house’, can remain in place – but recalled there was no clearance in place to be used as holiday accommodation.
The Britons are described by Torfaen Borough Council as the largest industrial derelict site in South East Wales and are also a ‘sporadic settlement’ in the ‘semi-rural environment’ established around the former site mining and steel.
The houses in Elizabeth Row have large gardens, but the 13 meter wide and 3.7 meter high summer house has been erected on additional residential land near the row of terraced properties and sits in face not only of the applicant’s address, but also of the end of the terrace.
Mr Rudge had obtained planning permission to use the land as a garden in 2016 and a statement submitted to Torfaen council after the inquiry was launched said he believed he had permission to expand existing dependency.
He also confirmed that it had been rented out as an Airbnb, but the statement said: ‘This has now ceased and the use will remain as a garden amenity and summer house.’
Council received a letter of complaint about its use which asked planners to consider the impact of noise due to its use as holiday accommodation and the increased use of a private access road.
Planners said that although the summer house is “large” in relation to the area where it stands “it is not considered excessive” and is built with “materials expected from a domestic outbuilding” and could be approved as a “development incidental to the enjoyment of the dwelling house”.
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