Go-ahead for Mumbles development on common land

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Swansea Council has given outline planning permission to Amusement Equipment Co Ltd for a major development on the headland and foreshore at Mumbles.

The society, the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW), Martin Caton MP, and the Gower Society were among the numerous objectors whose concerns have been overruled.

Says our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook: ‘The Mumbles headland is of high landscape value and this development will suburbanise it. Furthermore, as we explained to the council, part of the area is registered common land where the public has the right to walk. The council has acknowledged that the common will have to be deregistered, but it’s not as simple as that in law.

‘We told the council that the applicants will either need to obtain the Welsh Government’s consent for works on common land, or they will need to find suitable land in exchange, under section 147 of the Inclosure Act 1845, and obtain ministerial consent. We are angry that the adverse effect on common land is apparently being belittled.

‘We have asked the council to confirm that the applicants are aware of their obligations in relation to common land, and that they will consult the Open Spaces Society, as the leading voluntary organisation concerned with the protection of common land, as well as CCW, the government’s statutory adviser on landscape and access issues, on any proposed development there.

‘We are deeply disturbed that ancient and precious common land can so readily be ignored by developers and local authorities,’ Kate declares.

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