Permitted Development Rights

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Housing and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:20 pm on 13 November 2019.

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Photo of Darren Millar Darren Millar Conservative 2:20, 13 November 2019

Thank you for that answer, Minister. I've been recently contacted by a number of people in my own constituency, in the Llanferres area, regarding concerns that they have about a development that appears to be taking place in the Big Covert area in the Clwyd forest. This is a situation where parcels of woodland appear to have been sold off piecemeal to individuals and, unfortunately, some of the individuals who were buying those pieces of land are then felling trees without appropriate licences from Natural Resources Wales, and some of them are building structures made of wood or dragged in on trailers into the forest and setting up almost like second homes or camps of some sort. All of this is without proper development permissions, and, unfortunately, Denbighshire County Council appear to be having some difficulty in enforcing development because of the current permitted development rights. Can you give me some assurance that you'll look into this sort of development, which does appear to be happening more frequently, not just in rural Denbighshire but also in other parts of Wales as well?