Field Off Of Pen-y-Wal Road Known As Six Bells Nurseries, Pen-y-Wal Road Graigwen Pontypridd CF37 3NN Data via plota.co.uk

25/1103/FUL - Full Application Approved

Proposal

New polytunnel for agricultural use Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
30 Oct 2025
✓
Approved
23 Feb 2026

Approved on 23 Feb 2026 · Planning and Development Committee · Last checked 10 Oct 2026

Planning committee

Decided by Rhondda Planning and Development Committee on 12 Feb 2026.

Approved

As officers recommended.

  • Officers advised approval because the polytunnel would support agriculture without significant harm to the landscape, highways, residents or biodiversity, subject to conditions.
  • Objectors raised concerns about biodiversity, visual impact, residential amenity, traffic, road safety and further development.
  • The committee approved the application as recommended; a site visit motion failed, and Councillor W Owen recorded a vote against approval.
Read how the committee decided The proposal, site history, officers’ assessment, objections, speakers, committee debate and decision.

Source: Plota analysis of Rhondda's committee minutes of 12 Feb 2026.

Site constraints 4

Coal mining development high risk area
Recorded coal mining features at or near the surface. Most planning applications here need a coal mining risk assessment.
From the Mining Remediation Authority, formerly the Coal Authority. The development high risk area marks recorded coal mining features at or near the surface: mine shafts and adits, shallow workings, mine gas and former opencast sites. Most planning applications there need a coal mining risk assessment; householder applications, changes of use and some minor works are exempt. Mine entry positions come from old plans and can be out by several metres, and unrecorded workings can exist anywhere in the coalfield.
Coal mining risk assessments ↗
Agricultural land, grade 4
Poor quality farmland, not best and most versatile. Source: the Predictive Agricultural Land Classification Map (Defra and Natural England, 2025; the Welsh Government's Predictive ALC Map 2 in Wales), a model rather than a site survey. A site survey can differ.
Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.
Radon affected area, class 5
An estimated 10 to 30% of homes reach the radon action level. Indicative for the 1 km square, which takes the highest class found in it; a radon test gives the answer for a building.
From the British Geological Survey and UK Health Security Agency indicative atlas. Under building regulations, as the BRE guide BR 211 (2023) sets out, new buildings and extensions need basic radon protection from class 3 in England and Wales and from class 2 in Scotland, and full protection from class 5. The class at the site itself, from the detailed BGS map, decides which.
UKHSA radon ↗
Also on the record
Local nature reserve 320 m away: Craig-Yr-Hesg.
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · No listed building at the site · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 10 October 2026. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Mining Remediation Authority, the British Geological Survey and UK Health Security Agency (radon, contains BGS materials © UKRI) and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

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Important details

Council
Rhondda
Application type
Full Application
Postcode
CF37 3NN
Received
30 Oct 2025
Validated
30 Oct 2025
Ward
Pontypridd Town
Case officer
Show
Target decision
25 Dec 2025
Decision
Approve
Decision date
23 Feb 2026
Decision level
Planning and Development Committee
Applicant
Show

How this decision compares

Decided in 116 days from validation, 62 days slower than Rhondda's median of 54 for full applications. Approved, as 93% of full applications here are.

65%decided within 8 weeks
93%approved
12%go to committee

Plota live figures for full applications decided by Rhondda in the last twelve months, from validation. Rhondda decision record →

Public comments

5comments received
4 objecting1 supporting

80% object · above the UK average of 74%

18 neighbours consulted · Last counted 10 Oct 2026

Read the comments on the council site ↗

Consultation & key dates

Comments by
27 Feb 2026
Committee
12 Feb 2026
Statutory expiry
25 Dec 2025
Env. assessment
No