Sir Gaerfyrddin
Steel buildings in Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is farming country first — the Tywi, Teifi and Taf valleys, dairy and beef on good grass, and the kind of holding where the newest building is a cattle shed and the oldest is a stone barn nobody can get a tractor into. Most enquiries here are for livestock housing, machinery stores and roofs over feeding yards. The south-east around Llanelli and the Amman valley is a different story underground: that is coalfield, and a building there wants the mining map checked before anyone draws a pad.
Buildings designed, supplied and erected by South West Steel Buildings across Carmarthenshire, including Carmarthen, Llanelli, Ammanford, Llandeilo, Llandovery, Whitland, St Clears and Newcastle Emlyn.
- Planning authority
- Council and Park
- Carmarthenshire County Council, or the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority inside the Park.
- Protected landscape
- Yes, in part
- Bannau Brycheiniog National Park
- On the coalfield
- In part
- Check the site on the mining map.
- Drainage approval
- The council
- Needed at 100 m² or more.
What to check first in Carmarthenshire
Two things before anything is drawn. If the site is in the east, towards the Black Mountain, find out whether it is inside the National Park, because that changes who decides the siting and design. If it is in the south-east around Llanelli, Cross Hands or the Amman valley, put the postcode into the mining authority's map. Everywhere else, the usual questions — slope, access for a lorry, and where the roof water will go.
Planning in Carmarthenshire
Most of Carmarthenshire comes under Carmarthenshire County Council. The part inside Bannau Brycheiniog National Park — the Black Mountain in the east of the county, towards Llandeilo and Llandovery — 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. Carmarthenshire 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
Carmarthenshire: Part of it sits on the South Wales coalfield and part does not, so it is worth checking where a site falls 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 Carmarthenshire
At 100 m² or more, drainage needs SuDS Approval Body approval first — for Carmarthenshire, Carmarthenshire County Council. Roofing an existing yard? See the £40/m² yard roofing grant.
Buildings we put up in Carmarthenshire
Questions about building in Carmarthenshire
Who decides planning for a farm building in Carmarthenshire?
Carmarthenshire County Council for most of Carmarthenshire; the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority for land inside Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, which covers the Black Mountain in the east of the county, towards Llandeilo and Llandovery.
Is Carmarthenshire on the coalfield?
Part of it sits on the South Wales coalfield and part does not, so it is worth checking where a site falls on the mining authority’s map before anything is designed.
Who approves drainage for a new building in Carmarthenshire?
Carmarthenshire County Council, as the SuDS Approval Body for Carmarthenshire, for anything covering 100 square metres or more.
Do you build in Carmarthen?
Yes. South West Steel Buildings design, supply and erect buildings across Carmarthenshire, including Carmarthen, Llanelli, Ammanford, Llandeilo, Llandovery, Whitland, St Clears and Newcastle Emlyn.
Tell us what you want to put up in Carmarthenshire
Rough span and length is enough. We reply the same day, wherever you are in Carmarthenshire.