PLANNERS have given a controversial development conditional consent bringing an end to a long-running saga, which has cost Powys County Council (PCC) over £60,000.

Edward McIntosh (Eddie) has been told that his application to convert and change the use of a welfare cabin into a rural enterprise dwelling  at Mellowcroft, near Llandegley, has been approved.

PCC has confirmed this and it comes less than a year after the authority won a court case against him for breaking planning laws at the site.

An emotional Mr Micntosh speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service said: “Planning has been approved and I feel numb.

“A friend told me that the status of the application had been updated to approve on their website.

“I feel vindicated but upset at what the ordeal has done to me and and my family.

“It should never have come to this.”

Mr McIntosh explained that he bought Mellowcroft in 2006 and this followed on from a documentary programme that he had been part of which restored derelict properties.

Mr McIntosh added: “This was a derelict former smallholding and I was going to do it up and restore it.

“This was to show that restoring these old abandoned buildings is viable in the 21st century.

“To make it viable you need to look at alternatives to farm such as Shitake mushroooms and collecting  Silver Birch sap.

“If the farmer had known this could be done in the 1930s it would not have been abandoned.

“I’m really grateful for the support of my community – this is a win for the underdog in what has been a battle between David and Goliath.”

County Times:

A spokesperson for PCC said: “I can confirm that planning application 19/1602/FUL was granted conditional consent on Monday, January 20.

“This application is subject to the use of a new vehicular access and a condition ensuring the closing up of the existing vehicle access which was one of the previous reasons for enforcement action.”

At a planning committee meeting in July 2019, Mr McIntosh received retrospective planning permission for five structures for agricultural purposes including the welfare cabin.

In February 2019, at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court, Eddie McIntosh, was found guilty of 18 charges of breaking planning laws by failing to comply with planning enforcement notices served on him by PCC.

He was fined £750 to be paid within 12 months or face 28 days in prison.

He was also given a 12-month conditional discharge on three of the charges, relating to a motor home, a shed and the tree house which had been moved or mostly demolished, but hadn’t at the end of an enforcement period in October 2016.

The buildings were supposed to be knocked down.

It has cost PCC more than £60,000 taking legal and enforcement action against Mr McIntosh.