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15.64 acres, Cefn Eithin Wood, South Wales
For Sale - Offers Over £100,000

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Nestled in the foothills of the Preseli Mountains, on the outskirts of the village of Maenclochog, a unique opportunity to acquire approximately 15.64 Acres of Woodland with excellent gated access and hardstanding with ample space for vehicles/machinery, plus 2 useful storage container sheds.
We are advised that 'Sittka Spruce' (picea sitchensis) were planted in the 1960's and that these have now been partially felled with the remainder ready for clearing and felling. We further understand that there has been more recent woodland planting (circa 500 trees) in the last 12 years.
Whilst no Woodland grant is currently paid, interested parties are advised to make their own enquiries as to the possibility of any Grants/Aid that may or may not be available. The Woodland is also bisected by a Stream and there is also a Natural Spring. Small Woodland Properties in Mid and North Pembrokeshire are rare and the opportunity to purchase should not be missed.

Directions -

What3words: ///mammal.skims.disengage

From Maenclochog, pass the primary school on your right, and take the first right hand turning just before leaving the village. Follow this road for a third of a mile or so and follow the road to the right, continue straight on until you get to the end of the track where there is the gated entrance to Cefn Eithin Wood on the right.

Please note - A Public Footpath runs off the B4313 road and over the access lane leading to the Woodland and onwards up to Cwm Cerwyn.

General Planning Information

A range of forest buildings can be erected without normal planning permission. This includes the erection, extension or alteration of a forestry building, such as a tool shed, store, office or shelter, or putting in a “private way” (access track). This is called Permitted Development (PD) and details are contained in Part 7 (Forestry Buildings and Operations) of the General Permitted Development Order 1995 (GPDO).

Any building or track must be used for the purposes of forestry and not, for example, primarily for leisure or educational activities. Unlike agriculture PD rights (Part 6), there are no restrictions on the size of the forestry building, no requirement that the forestry must be run as a trade or business (so hobby forestry is fine as long as it is forestry) and no stipulation that it must relate to forestry operations only on that unit. Full PD rights also apply to any size of forestry holding, whereas, for agriculture, there are reduced PD rights for holdings less than 5 hectares. On a side note, Osier growing counts as agriculture and therefore the two tier agricultural PD system applies, with less generous PD rights for holdings smaller than 5 hectares.

To qualify as Permitted Development, a building that is erected cannot be used as a dwelling, cannot be within 25 metres of a classified road, and must be “reasonably necessary” for the purposes of forestry. Also, any building must be designed for the purpose for which it is intended, so a forestry hut that looks like a house, or even is capable of providing overnight shelter, is not allowed as PD.

A condition of Permitted Development rights for forestry is that you must give advance notice to the local planning authority of what you intend to do. This system is called the Prior Notification Procedure (or the Determination Procedure) and involves filling in a simple form and providing a map and drawing. The planners then have 28 days in which to notify you that your development should not begin without their prior approval of the siting, design and external appearance. At this point they could also reject the proposal as not “reasonably necessary” for the purposes of forestry.

A precedent set by the planning appeal, T/APP/V2255/A/97/2861 93/P7, provides a useful guide to what can be erected in a woodland setting. In this case, the Inspector allowed a 6 by 18 metre wooden building for the storage of equipment, as a workspace for producing fence posts, and as an office with washroom facilities, all of which was deemed necessary for managing a 21 hectare coppice woodland in Kent.

Using a caravan for forestry purposes, such as storage, shelter for workers or as an office, is another matter. Provided the caravan is not for residential use, it falls completely outside planning controls, and you do not need to ask the planning authority in advance. According to the Caravan Sites Act 1968, the legal definition of a caravan includes mobile homes and self-built structures. Under this definition, there is no necessity for the caravan to have wheels, as long as it is under the size limit (60 feet long, 20 feet wide and 10 feet high), can be delivered in no more than two sections by lorry, and is capable of being moved in one piece along a road when assembled.

Grant Information

Under the Welsh "Glastir" scheme, there are two types of grant are available: the Woodland Creation Grant, for planting trees on land that is not currently woodland, and Glastir Woodland Management for thinning, restocking, infrastructure, pest control, and so forth.

For more information on the Welsh grant schemes, see http://wales.gov.uk/topics/environmentcountryside/farmingandcountryside/farming/schemes/glastir