AM agrees to raise plight of business

The owners of a £3 million caravan holiday home park that will be cut in half by the preferred route of the long-awaited Newtown bypass held a “constructive” meeting with a Labour Welsh Assembly Member.

Rebecca Evans, an AM for Mid and West Wales, promised to report back her findings to Transport Minister Edwina Hart after meeting Trevor and Patricia Bebb and their son Lee at Glandulas Caravan Park, Newtown.

Mr and Mrs Bebb have accused the Welsh Government of misleading the public at a consultation exercise about the bypass last July.

The couple gave the AM a DVD, map and printed literature produced by the Welsh Government for the exhibition in Newtown, which failed to show the complete caravan park and misled the public to believe that the bypass would skirt around it. The proposed line actually dissects the park as it joins the A489.

The visit by Mrs Evans followed a meeting in December, organised by Montgomeryshire AM Russell George, when the Bebb family met Andy Falleyn and Peris Jones from the Welsh Government’s Infrastructure Projects Division and representatives of contractors Alun Griffiths (Contractors) Ltd.

At that meeting, the Bebbs said the business would not survive if there were a bridge over the bypass connecting both parts of the park. The family has suggested either re-routing the west end of the bypass around the caravan park or selecting the ‘brown’ route option of diverting it through the Mochdre Enterprise Park.

Mrs Evans took a tour of the park with Mr and Mrs Bebb to see the proposed bypass route. The couple told the AM that their business was in limbo because potential caravanners were put off by the prospect of the bypass cutting through the park.

Mrs Evans said: “I visited Glandulas Caravan Park to see for myself the proposed route of the bypass, to better understand the impact it would have on the park business and to discuss the concerns relating to the maps upon which the proposals have been developed.

“I found the visit very useful and will be raising the issues with the Minister for Transport on behalf of the Bebb family.”

Mr Bebb said: “We felt it was a very constructive meeting and it was refreshing that a member of the governing party here in Wales was finally prepared to listen to our case and see the park for herself.

“Other than our local AM Russell George, she was the first AM or Welsh Government Minister to accept our invitation to visit the park. She has promised to report back to Edwina Hart who will now be given the correct information about the impact of the proposed bypass route on our business.”

Mr and Mrs Bebb, who have lived at Glandulas Farm alongside the caravan park for six years, again stressed that they fully support the need for a bypass and don’t wish to delay it being built.

The family has spent around £500,000 developing the 10-acre park, which has 65 occupied caravan holidays homes and pitches for a further 15. There are future plans to further expand the park as they own 56 acres of land at Glandulas Farm.

Based on the latest research by the British Holiday and Home Parks Association, the park generates nearly £500,000 a year for the local economy.

Picture caption: Assembly Member Rebecca Evans (left) with Trevor and Patricia Bebb during her visit to Glandulas Caravan Park.