A PLANNING application for a supermarket in Haverfordwest was discussed by town council and on social media this week, as the developer has asked for permission to make changes to the plans. 

Planning notices have appeared on Thomas Parry Way to announce that developer Conygar has applied for a “variation of conditions” to their application to build a superstore and petrol station which was granted in 2014.

At their meeting on Wednesday, September 20, Haverfordwest town councillors decided to request more information from Pembrokeshire County Council about what changes to the plans could mean for the Slade Lane building plot.

The notices show the developer has asked for conditions 14, 15 and 16 of the original application to be removed which relate to outdated requirements that Welsh Government erased from national planning policy last year.

The planning conditions followed a framework for testing a building’s environmentally sustainability and meant the designs for the supermarket would have to be assessed before it was built, and the finished building would also have to be approved before a business could move in.

Anyone who wishes to comment on the changes to the application must do so before October 5, either via Pembrokeshire.gov.uk or by writing to the Director of Development, County Hall, Haverfordwest.

Conygar also applied for another condition to be changed, which would allow them to submit plans detailing how supermarket staff would travel to work after the supermarket was built, instead of when building commenced.

At the town council meeting, highways officer Darren Thomas described how travel plans were a required element of all new commercial applications.

He said: “[Pembrokeshire County Council] are trying to encourage a shift from single occupancy use of motor vehicles. 

“It is not a way to change a development as it is a very focused element of a planning application.”

In July Conygar issued a statement expressing their disappointment at having to pull out of building a five-screen cinema, 60-bed hotel, and 10 shops at the Slade Lane site, though permission to build a superstore at the site remains.