There will have been much excitement in County Hall last Thursday as plans for a new hotel by the Ffos Las racecourse were passed. The proposal is brainchild of ex-footballer and Strictly Come Dancing star Robbie Savage, I have no opinions either way on the development but I was curious to see on the Committee report that the;
Local Member - County Councillor M Gravell has not commented to date
This is not strictly true of course. Her enthusiastic comments were reported by the Western Mail last February when the application first went in;
Meryl Gravell, Carmarthenshire Council leader, said the “wonderfully charismatic” Savage has kept in touch with her to talk about his plans.
“It is so encouraging to hear that his group has so much faith in the county after seeing all the tremendous regeneration that has and is being achieved throughout Carmarthenshire, that they wanted to exploit potential investment opportunities.”
She is not, fortunately, on the planning committee and perhaps she was wearing her Leader's hat (now passed to Kev), and I suppose we don't know exactly what 'plans' he was discussing with Meryl during their mysterious calls...but who cares! It's a celebrity! And of course the thorny (but sometimes very 'flexible') issue of it being an 'open countryside' location ie outside the development limits of Trimsaran were artfully smoothed over by reference to the 'Ffos Las regeneration site'.
Any way, good luck to Mr Savage but perhaps someone should tell him that Meryl will be expecting to be guest of honour at the grand opening and will definitely be expecting the first dance.....
3 comments:
Pretty much this whole area offers some unique and outstanding opportunities for developers - at least, the "right sort" of developer.
Nearby Pembrey Airport says on its website:
"One of the few Airports in the United Kingdom that has 5000 acres of adjoining land available for joint venture with very little planning and environmental constraints. We are within Convergence funding Area (qualifies for European funding). Pembrey Airport is exempt planning and large tracts of freehold development land are immediately available from the Local Authority."
Hurry, hurry!
@Cneifiwr Quite, funny little world down there, when it comes to planning. Only a couple of years ago Ffos Las sought permission for an extra 280 houses on top of the 248 they already had consent for - they were deemed necessary for the future viability of the racecourse. The council happily obliged. A small renewable energy plant was a different matter of course. Still, as you say, one needs the right sort of developer. Tally ho.
I wonder if all this land is like the land the Scarlets stadium was built on nearby? Land with no value, according to the council. Perhaps they're giving it away!
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