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Bereaved pet owners can often find it difficult to say goodbye to their four-legged family member, but a boarding kennels near Pontllanfraith is trying to change that.
Springfield Boarding Kennels and Cattery, on Cwmalsie Lane, has submitted a planning application to Caerphilly County Borough Council to build a pet crematorium.
Owner Angelique Thomas explained to Caerphilly Observer how deceased pets are usually cremated with others via the vets. If planning permission is granted, she will be able to offer individual pet cremations – allowing owners to scatter the ashes of their beloved animal.
Angelique said: “It is relatively rare. We have been here for five years and the kennels have been going for about 35 years. There was a pet crematorium here before with the previous owner offering that service and we are tying to reinstate it.
“Lots of my customers have had their pets cremated en masse. It’s not very nice, they are a part of their family. When their ashes are given back, the owner will know it is their pet.”
The kennels, which is based at Penpedairheol Farm, had planning permission approved earlier this year for four blocks of dog kennels and a cattery.
A decision on whether to approve the application will be made by the council in the coming months.
How did we get this information?
Whenever someone is seeking permission from a local authority to build something, they have to submit a planning application.
Details of these planning applications are published by the council for members of the public, and the press, to inspect. Each week the council publishes a list of applications it has received.
Some of these applications, especially if they are for a major development for example, will be decided on by the council’s planning committee – made up of elected councillors. They meet in public to discuss the merits of an application using reports written by the council’s planning officers, who are non-elected workers.
Others, perhaps minor ones, such as a house extension for example, will be decided on by officers. This is known as a decision under delegated powers.
Planning applications and decisions can be searched online via Caerphilly County Borough Council’s planning portal.
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