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Bridgend Council’s Planning Committee has censured the council’s own officers over their approach to a planning application to install an air source heat pump at a care home (pdf).

Work to install the heat pump at the BCBC-run Bryn-y-Cae care home in Brackla had started before the council sought (retrospective) planning permission.

Residents of adjacent Cae Bracla, as well as Brackla Community Council, objected to the application.

The community council believed BCBC may have breached planning laws by starting work before permission had been granted.

Meanwhile, residents said they hadn’t been properly consulted (letters were said to have not arrived in time). Also, they were not convinced that enough has been done to address noise concerns.

Council department “didn’t seek advice from planning officers”

Bridgend Council (in this case, the Communities Directorate) was, in effect, seeking planning permission from itself.

During the meeting, planning officers explained that retrospective applications needed to be treated similarly to full applications.

A planning officer raised the possibility that the department believed a heat pump is what’s known as a “permitted development” (doesn’t need planning permission), and they received poor advice. They confirmed that nobody sought to double-check with planning officers.

Officers also said that a notice was put up at the site and letters were sent to 43 nearby properties in July 2025. This complied with the rules.

While work has been completed, the heat pump isn’t active yet.

A condition has been added to ensure that a noise assessment – and any work needed to address noise – is undertaken within 2 months of any noise complaints being raised with the council.

Department no show “rude and unacceptable”

Cllr. Martin Hughes (Lab, Maesteg East) noted that this was an occasion where the council had to “hold its hand up and admit we got it wrong”, but the general principle of improving energy efficiency was sound.

Cllr. Jonathan Pratt (Con, Newton) believed this kind of situation is where the public begins to lose trust in the planning system, with conspiracies and rumours starting. He suggested that any other council department should, as a matter of course, seek advice from the planning department when they want to build anything.

Later on, he expressed sympathy with planning officers, believing it wasn’t fair for them to be “carrying the can on this”. The officers from other departments who submit these applications had to explain themselves.

Committee Chair, Cllr. Richard Granville (Lab, Cornelly), rebuked the Communities Directorate for not sending any officers or representatives to discuss the application, saying it was “rude and unacceptable”.

Cllr. Ian Williams (Ind, Oldcastle) suggested deferring the application until the relevant officers “had the decency” to speak on it.

An amendment was tabled to the recommendation that the Committee send a strongly worded letter to the Communities Directorate seeking a full explanation behind their application. This went to a recorded vote.