Steel buildings in Blaenau Gwent
Blaenau Gwent is the heads of the valleys: high, exposed ground around Ebbw Vale, Tredegar and Brynmawr, with hill grazing above the towns and a small corner of the National Park on the northern edge. Buildings up here have to deal with wind and weather at height, and almost everywhere is old coalfield. It is also somewhere the drainage approval goes to a neighbouring council: Blaenau Gwent’s SAB applications are handled by Merthyr Tydfil.
Buildings designed, supplied and erected by South West Steel Buildings across Blaenau Gwent, including Ebbw Vale, Tredegar, Abertillery, Brynmawr and Blaina.
- Planning authority
- Council and Park
- Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, or the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority inside the Park.
- Protected landscape
- Yes, in part
- Bannau Brycheiniog National Park
- On the coalfield
- Mostly
- Check the site on the mining map.
- Drainage approval
- Merthyr Tydfil
- Needed at 100 m² or more.
What to check first in Blaenau Gwent
Up here it is wind, wet and coal, in that order of what people forget. Tell the designer how exposed the site is. Check the mining map before any design. And when it comes to drainage approval, the application goes to Merthyr Tydfil, not Blaenau Gwent — worth knowing before you start looking for the form on the wrong council's website.
Planning in Blaenau Gwent
Most of Blaenau Gwent comes under Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council. The part inside Bannau Brycheiniog National Park — a small area on the northern edge — comes under the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority instead, which is the planning authority there and looks closely at the siting and appearance of any new building.
The rules themselves are Welsh, not English — 465 m² on 5 hectares or more, a 28-day notice, no Class Q — and are set out in our planning guide for farm buildings in Wales.
Garden buildings. Blaenau Gwent includes protected land — Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. There, a garage or workshop at a house more than 20 m from it is limited to 10 m² under permitted development, and nothing may go beside the house. See garages and workshops.
The ground, and the coal
Blaenau Gwent: Most of it sits on the South Wales coalfield, so old shallow workings and mine entries are a real foundation question — check the site on the mining authority’s map before anything is designed.
In the Mining Remediation Authority's Development High Risk Area, most planning applications need a Coal Mining Risk Assessment, and the pads may need a ground investigation first. The authority's guidance explains how to check a site.
The groundworks calculator works out the base for your own slope.
Drainage approval in Blaenau Gwent
At 100 m² or more, drainage needs SuDS Approval Body approval first — for Blaenau Gwent, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, which processes SAB applications for Blaenau Gwent in partnership. Roofing an existing yard? See the £40/m² yard roofing grant.
Buildings we put up in Blaenau Gwent
Questions about building in Blaenau Gwent
Who decides planning for a farm building in Blaenau Gwent?
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council for most of Blaenau Gwent; the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority for land inside Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, which covers a small area on the northern edge.
Is Blaenau Gwent on the coalfield?
Most of it sits on the South Wales coalfield, so old shallow workings and mine entries are a real foundation question — check the site on the mining authority’s map before anything is designed.
Who approves drainage for a new building in Blaenau Gwent?
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, which processes SAB applications for Blaenau Gwent in partnership, as the SuDS Approval Body for Blaenau Gwent, for anything covering 100 square metres or more.
Do you build in Ebbw Vale?
Yes. South West Steel Buildings design, supply and erect buildings across Blaenau Gwent, including Ebbw Vale, Tredegar, Abertillery, Brynmawr and Blaina.
Tell us what you want to put up in Blaenau Gwent
Rough span and length is enough. We reply the same day, wherever you are in Blaenau Gwent.