Several people have contacted me after noticing Plaid Council Leader Emlyn Dole's purpose built holiday home, complete with hot tub advertised on Airbnb, etc. There's nothing like a quiet Welsh getaway in the middle of a pandemic of course, presumably there's plenty of bookings from far afield!
The story behind this lucrative little earner down on Fferm Capel Ifan, Pontyberem, was a typical Carmarthenshire tale of shady nonsense, earning him the title Emlyn 'two barns' Dole, and the usual media quote, a la Mark James, that he'd 'done nothing wrong'. As is usual in these circumstances, the planning applications were all in his wife's name.
Cllr Dole, BBC Wales
Planning was originally granted in 2012 to sympathetically convert the historic 400 year old barns into a tanning salon and holiday lets. However, the 'conversion' went a bit further than was allowed, in fact it went from this;
to this;
Planning enforcement stepped in and eventually, in 2015 as there was bugger all left of the historic barns, new applications had to be made. There was even an unpleasant question mark over the Mr Dole's re-use of the original 2012 Agent's report. The original agent was, in fact, no longer acting for him and was quoted as saying;
"Judging by the evidence, it appears Emlyn Dole is not playing the game everyone else in the county has to play, which is going through due process".
As this was now a new build in open countryside, planning officers recommended refusal.
Meanwhile Emlyn carried on with the, er, 'conversion', without the proper planning approval, flagrantly ignoring planning rules. It was now a retrospective planning application.
Not to be outdone by pesky planning officers in his own authority, and by now, enjoying his position as leader thanks to Mark James, the application found it's way to the Planning Committee. The dutiful Committee kindly made not just one, but two trips to see the crumbling heap on the deeply un-material planning basis that it had been 'in the press' and the 'sensitive' identity of the applicant.
Eventually, enough backs were scratched on the charabanc trips to Pontyberem to ensure it was passed by a majority, against the recommendation of Emlyn's own authority's planning department. Mark James ensured Dole escaped from the fiasco unscathed, in return for a few favours and u-turns as Leader. Most crucially by declaring his new-found support for illegal libel indemnities. It's how things work.
So there we are, 'Y Beudy Bach' has even got it's own shed with a hot tub, not sure if planning was required for that as well but what the heck, there's got to be some perks as leader! Trebles all round, as Private Eye would say!
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For those losing sleep over whether former chief executive Mark James is struggling to make ends meet, what with the police investigation and all that, scratching by on his pensions and Caebrwyn's monthly gutter money, worry no more, not only are his companies, Cardiff business interests, (undeclared when he was in post) and property portfolio (including mine), flourishing, but his new consultancy business is showing a relatively healthy balance sheet with £70k in declared profit. Not bad considering Ffynnon Consultancy is in its infancy, has no website, contact details or, well, anything.
Still, with the contacts made during his County Hall dictatorship and the inside knowledge of everything from the City Deal, pilfering public funds, to tax avoidance, he doesn't need to advertise.
One can only speculate what they're paying him for.