PLANS to install car parking machines and the associated signage at two car parks within the boundaries of Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority (BBNPA) have been pulled.

Back in April, BBNPA lodged four planning applications with its own planning department in a bid to install car park machines and associated signage on the edge of four car parks.

The idea behind the applications is that it would allow visitors to donate money as a thank you for parking at the site.

This money would then be reinvested into maintenance of the car parks.

Applications for two sites - at Llyn-y-Fan Road, Llanddeusant, and Carreg Cennen Castle were approved in May by BBNPA’s Planning Committee but consideration for the other two applications at the Fox Hunters and Keeper’s Pond car parks near Blaenavon, continued over the summer and into autumn, until last week.

BBNPA’s head of commercial operations Wayne Lewis, who had originally submitted the proposal to authority planners, gave notice on October 1 that he was withdrawing both applications.

The applications had run into problems during the consultation process.

Welsh Government historic environment body Cadw commented on both the Fox Hunters and Keeper’s Pond applications and said: “We consider that the application is inadequately documented, and we recommend that additional information is required to enable a balanced decision to be taken.”

“The application will see structures erected in an exposed area where they will be clearly visible from the scheduled monuments and in the wider World Heritage Site.

“There appears to have been no consideration of the impact of the proposals on the historic environment, with the design of the boards not aligning with the existing World Heritage Site branding.”

They suggest that BBNPA needs to produce a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) for both schemes and then a re-consultation take place.

The proposals had been part of cash-strapped BBNPA’s bid to improve its financial resilience.