Story perspectives

Council Rejects Charlotte Church Forest School Permit, Appeal Pending

8/11/2026

Summary

Story summary

Vale of Glamorgan Council rejected Charlotte Church’s October 2025 retrospective planning permission for the Awen Project forest school.
The council cited noise, insufficient parking, and lack of green-infrastructure or biodiversity evidence.
The refusal threatens the school’s operation, which opened in 2024 on a former pig farm in Wenvoe without prior permission.
Church has appealed to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW), which has received the appeal but set no hearing date.

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Story summary

Vale of Glamorgan Council rejected Charlotte Church’s October 2025 retrospective planning permission for the Awen Project forest school.
The council cited noise, insufficient parking, and lack of green-infrastructure or biodiversity evidence.
The refusal threatens the school’s operation, which opened in 2024 on a former pig farm in Wenvoe without prior permission.
Church has appealed to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW), which has received the appeal but set no hearing date.