PLANS for mobile food and drink vans to be located in woodland car parks have been submitted to council planners.

Separate change of use applications, for permission to use parts of two car parks, for the vans have been made by Welsh environmental body Natural Resources Wales which is responsible for managing the Welsh Government’s woodland estate.

It wants permission for a van to operate from the Great Barnets Wood car park, more than 100 metres from Usk Road, at Mathern near Chepstow and at the parking area at Beacon View at Maryland, Trellech.

Monmouthshire County Council’s highways department has said it has no objection to either application while in response to the council planning department’s consultation Natural Resources Wales has said records suggest there are dormice at the Beacon View site.

According to the application forms no new hard-standing or permanent structure will be required for either van which will be located on land already cleared for car parking and they wouldn’t be parked on grass or any other vegetation to “minimise disturbance to the surrounding green infrastructure”.

There would be no permission, from NRW, for the trailers to be parked on the sites overnight and it anticipates seasonal opening hours would be from 9am to 5pm.

NRW intends offering bidders the opportunity to operate the vans and “hopes” to award contracts to local businesses “wherever possible”.

The vans won’t have an electricity supply or diesel of external generators.

The application for the Great Barnets Wood site states it is intending alternatives will be considered as part of the scoring system for awarding the contracts: “There will not be an electricity supply and no diesel or external generators will be permitted.”

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