Brecon Beacons ruling on film firm's location request

A film company is seeking permission to use a Welsh mountainside as a location, but it wants to keep the details about the production under wraps.

Planning officers from Brecon Beacons Park Authority are to say later if they think the application should go ahead.

The firm wants to shoot on Mynydd y Llan on the Black Mountain in Carmarthenshire for three months, building a chapel and a manor house.

A final decision will be made by park authority members on 20 January.

The agent for the film company says spending of more than £1.4m locally is possible.

The authority's planning officers received the request in mid December.

It has created speculation in the villages of Llangadog, Myddfai and Llanddeusant in the east of the county.

The film company, which has not declared its identity or details about the film, says it intends to bring in 200 people for the production near Myddfai.

'Tight timescale'

It says it would need access to the land for a period of three months and permission to create a chapel and manor house. Filming would take place over three weeks.

Janet Long, an agent for the applicant, said: "There is a great deal of commercial sensitivity about projects such as this.

"However, I can confirm there would be a significant local spend, possibly higher than £1.4m."

John Cook, chief executive of Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, said no final decision had been made on the application.

He said: "There is interest from a filming unit for a particular site in the west of the park.

"They have a tight timescale to work to in terms of filming deadlines, budgets deadlines, so they have asked us to deal with this as quickly as we can.

"It will be considered in exactly the same way as any other planning application, the only difference is officers will work very hard with the applicant to ensure that it can come to a committee sooner than would normally take place."