SIR,
Re: Planning application DC/2010/01096.
I have received a four page letter from Mr and Mrs Copp regarding a planning application to erect four yurts at Lower Glyn Farm, Llanishen.
I used to, with my husband Peter Scourse, farm at Box Cottage, Far Hill, on land overlooking and adjacent to the Glyn Farm.
It so happens that I have also had some experience of yurts, or gers, from an expedition in Kazakhstan.
Yurts are basically tents of felt, over a wooden trellis foundation, evolved to provide accommodation for up to a dozen people following their grazing herds.
They have a central stove, which with inexperienced people can present a fire hazard.
They are designed to be easily taken down, transported and re-erected every few days on the level plains of Central Asia.
They are not made as 'fun' camps for rich holiday-makers.
In Kazakhstan, with a population of perhaps one human per ten square miles, such things as bylaws regarding services – water, sewage disposal and fire protection – did not apply.
It is a different consideration in this more densely populated country, erecting yurts on permanent wooden standings on the steeply sloping forested sides of a valley in which the number of residential properties has more than quadrupled in the last 40 years.
In fact, one wonders why this encampment should be regarded with an indulgence that is not accorded to gypsies or travellers?
It is, I suspect the prospect of an influx of visitors and noise that is upsetting to the Copps neighbours of this quiet valley.
It used, I remember, to be uniquely peaceful and rich in wildlife.
The stream had excellent crayfish, not single crayfish.
We used to have dormice and harvest mice and three species of shrews.
Also the strata of limestone in the sandstone rocks encouraged any unusual plants, butterfly and bee orchids for example.
Host wildlife asks only to be let alone from human interference and can best flourish without being observed by tourists.
The Copps describe their enterprise as "hidden valley" yurts.
It will soon be hidden away no longer and I fear for it's future if it suffers further exploitation.
The above considerations outline my objection to this enterprise.
Helen Scourse
(Lydart)