It is difficult to think of anything more obnoxious than two million gallons of cow slurry stored in an open lake close to homes in the village of St Nicholas, on the edge of the Pembrokeshire National Park as part of a massive industrial farming operation.

Add to that the audacity of the farmer concerned to build more than an acre of buildings without planning consent.

Such blatant disregard of the planning system, for the second time, deserves an outright refusal by the relevant councils – the County Council for the slurry lake and the National Park for the buildings.

Would the average householder get away with a minor infringement of the regulations? So why should a large farming operation get favourable treatment?

The 1,000 or more poor cattle will be imprisoned for 24 hours a day. There will be a huge increase in massive tankers dispersing the slurry around the countryside, more feed lorries and milk tankers ploughing up the narrow lanes in and around the village, making it dangerous for walkers, cyclists and horse riders.

Tourism is worth nearly three times the income generated from farming in this area and employs many more local people. Does the County Council and the National Parks Council wish to drive away high spending tourists – reducing jobs in tourism so that one farmer can increase his profits?

Given that milk quotas have just been abolished by the EU and Germany and Ireland, in particular, are gearing up their dairy industries, the business case for such a massive increase in dairy production in St Nicholas looks fairly dodgy.

As a regular visitor to the area for the past ten years - probably visiting four times a year and spending around £2,500 a year on accommodation, restaurants and other amenities this year alone – I really will have to consider whether the stench and the danger of being forced off the road by slurry tankers adds to or detracts from the pleasures of Pembrokeshire.

Bernard Stewart-Deane

Cambridge