The owners of a 115-year-old garden centre have had to shut half of the buildings on their site after the council told them they hadn’t asked for permission to build them. Anthony and Nicola Halse, who own Sunnyside Nurseries in Langstone in Newport, spent two years trying to win approval for the three colourful cabins on their site which they constructed after being told they didn’t need planning approval.
Nicola had operated a gifts business from one of the cabins since 2018 while long-running Newport grocer Rae Barton fruit and veg shop took over the running of one cabin in 2020 and Anthony’s sister opened an arts and crafts space in the other.
Sunnyside became a hub for visitors with the cabins and was proving a real success. Anthony said: “There is obviously a need for a site like this in Langstone as there is seldom a day when it is not mentioned by members of the public how nice it is to visit our premises.” But in August 2020 Newport City Council sent an enforcement notice to the couple demanding they cease operating from the cabins.
