Agenda item

Application Proposal: Agricultural Livestock Building

The Specialist – Principal Planner presented the application as outlined in the agenda report.  She explained that the site was located in open countryside within the Blackdown Hills AONB.  She referred to previous schemes associated with the site that had been refused and dismissed at appeal.  The proposed agricultural building would be located within an established farm and would enable livestock to be more extensively accommodated across the site.  She confirmed that there would be no increase in livestock numbers and therefore the principle was considered acceptable but given its location within the AONB acceptability of the proposal depended on the assessment against relevant development plan policies.

The Specialist – Principal Planner said that the AONB Partnership had objected to the application recognising the needs of the farm which needed to be balanced with conservation and enhancement of natural beauty of AONB including retaining remoteness and long ranging views.  She said that because the scale had been reduced significantly to previous refusals and the height, width and material matched other buildings and were in context with existing buildings, the proposal was not considered to be so harmful to justify refusal on those grounds.  She referred to previous applications which had discussed the impact on local water supplies, however, this was considered in detail at the recent appeal and was not considered to be an issue.  She recommended that the application be approved subject to conditions.

In response to questions, the Specialist – Principal Planner confirmed that:

·         The application had been assessed in relation to previous refusals and the comments raised by the Planning Inspector.

·         As the application did not propose an increase in livestock, it was not impacted by the Phosphates issue.

·         A condition could be attached to restrict the use of building for storage only and not for use by livestock. 

·         The Enforcement Team would be responsible for pursuing failure to comply with any agreed planning permission.

The Committee was addressed by a member of the public in support of the application who commented that the site had been subject to many planning applications over the last 15 years with various concerns raised over the contamination of the private water supply and the effect on residential amenity.  He advised that discussions with local residents had taken place and it had been confirmed by the applicant that he would install a mains water supply across his land for the residents on private water and also address the boundary concerns.  He said that the provision of these provided a solution to addressing the concerns of local residents and were therefore in support of the application.

Ward member, Councillor Martin Wale said that he was pleased to see that the water supply issue was being addressed, however, he did have some concerns regarding the scale of the development being located within an AONB and referred to the objections raised by the Blackdown Hills AONB Partnership.  He said that he could possibly support the application if an additional condition was attached so that the building was not used for livestock.  

During consideration of the application, some members felt that the application could be approved but only with an additional condition relating to the agricultural building being used for storage only and at no times for use by livestock which would address the objections in regard to noise and odour.

In response to a member question regarding the applicant agreeing to providing a water supply to local residents, the Specialist - Principal Planner said that this was not a planning requirement and would therefore not meet the test for applying a condition but an informative could be added to any permission granted.

At the conclusion of the debate, it was proposed and seconded to approve the application as per the officer recommendation subject to the conditions outlined in the agenda report and an additional condition relating to the agricultural building to be used for storage only, and at no times for use by livestock and an informative relating to the water supply to local residents.  On being put to the vote, the application was unanimously approved.