Agenda item

To determine the application.

Gavin Taylor presented the report to members.

Members received a presentation, in accordance with the public participation procedure, from Mrs Dale who presented to the committee on behalf of her husband, the applicant.

Mrs Dale explained that Mr Dale was born in Coates into a farming family and he applied for a Cambridgeshire County Council holding to get a start in farming, so that he was not reliant upon his family. Mrs Dale added that they married in 1991, she is a Registered Nurse and works as a Deputy Sister at Peterborough Hospital part time, does the bookwork for the farm, is Chair of Governors at Doddington Primary School and alongside him and his daughters, she takes an active role in the care of the animals on the farm.

Mrs Dale explained that they moved to the starter holding at Doddington in 1992, which gave the family a base and an income, enabling them to be able to expand by buying and renting further land.  She expressed the view they are now planning for the future, for when their tenancy finishes, and they have sufficient resources to help establish their daughter’s farming career, which will release this holding for another young person to start farming. She made the point that when they relinquish their tenancy, they will farm more land at Coates than at Doddington as there are no opportunities to buy further land at Doddington as the land is all farmed by large estates, however, they feel there is more potential to expand their business at Coates.

Mrs Dale explained that Mr Dale classes himself as a mixed farmer and added that although a large part of the farm is arable, he has been involved with cattle all his life, helping with his father and grandfathers’ cattle when he was younger and he also had a small herd of Charolais cattle, after getting established at Doddington.  She stated that they started a new herd of Dexter cattle in 2011, with their daughter now involved who has a special interest in animals and the Dexter breed was chosen as they are smaller and are safer to handle due to their size. The family have taken them to educational events, e.g. Open Farm Sunday, as children are generally not frightened of them due to their calm manner and their smaller size. 

Mrs Dale explained that although their herd is small at present with 8 breeding cows, it is not in its “infancy” and their herd was much larger, however, the decision was taken to reduce numbers, due to their daughter’s commitments at school with A levels and health issues following a personal accident. She stated that the intention is to increase their numbers, in preparation for when their daughter has completed her University Degree in Animal Science, Health and Welfare.

Mrs Dale stated that the Dexter cattle work well with the rest of the farm, some of which is in Higher Level Stewardship and this environmental scheme allows the farm to support wildlife, by having grass margins, which provide a suitable habitat for voles, mice, birds and insects, and low grade hay to feed the cattle. She added that as well as being checked at least daily, the cattle need increased supervision at key times, e.g. for breeding, it is important for timing for artificial insemination; also for calving to ensure their safe delivery and for the care of the cow and calf and although the agricultural consultant states that the numbers of cattle do not warrant a full time person living on site, it is these key activities, observing and listening to the sounds the cattle make, that cannot be done effectively by visiting, once or twice a day, being on site allows them to manage the cattle and the other farm work.

Mrs Dale stated that the dwelling at the farmyard is also the farm office and the place where they hold meetings with different people for the running of the farm.  She made the point that farming needs to be carried out with regard to the weather and the temperature, which means that last minute decisions are frequently made. 

Mrs Dale stated that the workshop will contain high value tools, having this on the site where they live, means that they can stop to eat their evening meal and then continue to prepare for the next day’s work, as well as better security overnight. She made the point that the thefts that are listed by Cambridgeshire Police are mostly from areas away from residences.

Mrs Dale explained that Mr Dale takes an active role in the drainage of the Fens, being District Officer for 2 drainage boards, Ransonmoor at Doddington and Feldale IDB, Coates / Eastrea and is a member of the Middle Level Conservation Committee. She concluded by stating that she hopes further consideration will be given to their application and understand that farming is the family’s life, which Mr Dale wishes to continue in the village that he was born. 

Members asked Mrs Dale the following questions:

·         Councillor Meekins asked for clarification with regard to the number of acres that they are farming in the area where they are proposing to build the dwelling? Mr Dale stated there is a further 50 acres further down the lane and then on the other side of the village there is approximately another 150 acres. Councillor Meekins asked where the cattle are kept at the current time and Mr Dale stated that they are kept in paddocks either side of the current bungalow.

·         Councillor Marks asked whether this will become the main farmyard and Mr Dale stated that he has another farmyard in Coates where all the large machinery will be kept, which is in Flood Zone 3 and is down two gravel tracks, situated beside the main East Coast railway line. Councillor Marks asked what the anticipated HGV vehicular movements were in the area and Mr Dale are stated that there will be very few. Councillor Marks questioned where any HGV would be able to turn around as the lane appears to be very narrow on the site layout and Mr Dale stated that on the rare occasion an HGV would need to access the site it would be able to turn around in his yard.

·         Councillor Lynn stated that if planning permission was granted is the intention to move into the dwelling as soon as possible or not for another seven years? Mr Dale stated that he is looking to come out of the holding in 5 years’ time and he has not applied for the additional two years. He added that in farming, nothing happens quickly, and he has to build sheds for the livestock and set up the infrastructure for the cattle and following that a paddock further down the lane needs to be created. Mr Dale stated that it will take between 4 and 5 years for him to get everything in place and built. Councillor Lynn asked Mr Dale to confirm whether there is the intention to have the property built and for it then to remain empty for 4 or 5 years. Mr Dale stated that he intends to do a lot of the work himself and the buildings need to be constructed for the cattle in the first instance and the pastures and fencing needs to be in place which will take two years. He added that the construction of the bungalow will be the last detail of the application to be sorted and then when the family moves in, the cattle will also be moved at the same time.

Members asked officer’s the following questions:

·         Councillor Benney asked whether the survey that took place was carried out by undertaking a site visit or was it undertaken by a desk top survey? David Rowen stated that it is usually the case that such surveys are carried out as a desk top exercise and it is very rare that an enterprise, which is mainly arable, would see a consultant actually visit the site and the information that is usually submitted to the consultant includes the acreage that is farmed and the nature of the enterprise in terms of the split of arable to animal which is the only information that the consultant needs and also for the business case it is very rare for a consultant to need to visit the holding to make a judgement as to whether there is a functional financial case for a dwelling in such a location. Gavin Taylor stated that most agricultural assessments are carried out via desk top exercise and he clarified that the enterprise as a whole is viable and the viability is not in question with this application, the arable business on its own is a viable enterprise and the assessment is on the basis of functional need to ascertain whether a full time worker needs to reside on the site in order to perform the function of the farm and the agricultural side very rarely necessitates the need for an onsite permanent worker. Gavin Taylor explained that it is a functional assessment which has been undertaken on the basis of the livestock enterprise which is likely to yield a functional need, but it is the scale of the enterprise that is in question and the assessment that has to be carried out under LP12 of the Local Plan needs evidence to demonstrate as to whether the existing business demonstrates a functional need.

·         Councillor Lynn stated that he notes in the report that ‘it is not important at this time’ and asked whether that is due to the length of time the applicant has on the County Council farming land, which is 5 years and then possibly two more, which gives seven years. He questioned that if the application had been submitted in four years’ time would it be considered that there was more of a need for a dwelling to be on this property? Gavin Taylor stated that the application is to be considered in its current form with the information presented at this time and in four years’ time the applicants’ circumstances may have changed. Councillor Lynn expressed the view that he considers it to be relevant because the applicant may need to vacate the land that they are occupying.

·         Councillor Skoulding asked officers to confirm whether they have ever had experience of dealing with livestock themselves and expressed the view that keepers of livestock need to be on hand 24 hours a day. Gavin Taylor stated that he has not worked with livestock, but he has dealt with other applications that have done. He is aware where temporary workers have utilised permitted development rights to temporarily stay on site during labour or on insemination of livestock.

·         Councillor Marks asked whether the desk top study that has been carried out now takes into consideration the three years of setting up the land at this point as opposed to thinking about the future setting up of operation on this site. Gavin Taylor stated that the assessment that was carried out is based on a business plan and predications of that plan as to whether, it currently or could in the future, generate an essential functional need for a full-time worker. He added that with regard to set up times the assessment looks at what the existing need is now and whether in the future, with the scaling up of the business,  there would be the need for a full time worker on the site. In both scenarios the consultant has advised a need has not been demonstrated.

·         Councillor Cornwell expressed the view that the applicants have substantial land around the area and at some point they will need to move from one property to another and continue the farming operations. He added that at one time Eldernell was the senior of the two settlements of Eldernell and Coates and has always been an agricultural hamlet and over the years things have changed and it has become more of an upmarket residential area in parts of it, but it is still an agricultural based hamlet. He expressed the opinion that there appears to be a focus on the one element of the policy rather than the consideration of a farming operation which is trying to reorganise itself into a more centralised approach and unit.

·         Councillor Meekins stated that it is his understanding that the legislation states that the applicant has to prove that there is an essential need to have someone on the site and 8 cows would not justify it to be an essential requirement. He asked officers to clarify what would be the number of cattle that would be required to justify the essential need for somebody to be on site? Gavin Taylor stated that the consultant has used the John Nix pocketbook, which is a standardised document which sets out the standard labour requirements for all types of livestock. He added that the standard labour requirement for one cow is 1.35 standard man days per year and in the submitted business plan, the 20 proposed cows would equate to 0.3 of a full-time worker. Councillor Meekins added that for it to become an essential requirement to have a dwelling on site the applicant would have to have in the region of 60 cows and asked whether that figure would include calves? Gavin Taylor stated that the cow element refers to the heifers and the followers are the next generation and the projected scale is 20 cows and 50 followers, which is what the John Nix pocketbook sets out as equating to 0.3 of a full time worker.

·         Councillor Marks questioned the figures that had been stated and asked whether the figure is only for hands on work for the time spent with the cows or does it also include all the other associated works such as hay making? Gavin Taylor stated that the way the consultant has used the John Nix pocketbook is a standard labour requirement and does not set out what particular elements of labour may or may not be required, but one cow requires 1.35 standard man days per annum for a range of functions required for that cow.

Members asked questions, made comments, and received responses as follows:

·         Councillor Lynn stated that, in his opinion, it comes down to whether the family needs a house in the area and whilst he knows that there is an option to pass the County Council land down, the applicants have stated that they want to focus all of their efforts onto the Coates area. He stated that there will come a point in time that the family will need a home in Coates regardless of when that time comes and he would hope that if the house is built he would not want to see it left empty for years. Councillor Lynn added that if the application was approved, he would want to see conditions added to include waste storage, insect control and to ensure adequate light pollution measures are in place.

·         Councillor Benney stated that he does not trust or welcome desk top studies, but he can see that the applicants are heavily involved in farming, which is not a job, it is a way of life and farming is currently having a very tough time. He stated that the best form of security for a farmer is to be living on site and added that a herd of cows are very expensive and can be in excess of £100,000 and he commends the applicant for his future plans and wishes him well.

·         Councillor Murphy stated that it is refreshing to hear the applicant’s plans and commends them for looking into the future and for planning ahead.

·         Councillor Marks stated that he welcomes the application and will be supporting it. He added that if the application gets completed in a timely manner it will free up another County Council smallholding to enable a future generation to continue farming.

·         Councillor Meekins stated he also welcomes the application and would like to see the pedigree herd of Dexter cattle expand.

·         Councillor Connor stated that he commends the applicant on their proposed venture.

·         Councillor Mrs French stated that she also agrees with the other Members comments, commends the applicant for their foresight, and she will be supporting the application.

·         Councillor Sutton stated that he is not sure whether the application is all it seems to be, and he is concerned that the first application that was put in was withdrawn and made no mention of any livestock whatsoever. He added that he has mixed feelings on the application and if the application is approved, he hopes that the livestock issue is as genuine as it has been portrayed.

Proposed by Councillor Benney, seconded by Councillor Lynn and decided that the application be APPROVED, against the officer’s recommendation, with the conditions imposed on the planning permission to be agreed in conjunction with the Chairman, Councillor Benney and Councillor Lynn.

Members approved the application against officer’s recommendation as they feels that the application site is the appropriate location to house cattle and for a workshop, the applicant has demonstrated that there is an essential and functional need for the property in order to expand their business which will lead to employment opportunities going forward.

(Councillors Mrs Mayor and Miscandlon declared an interest in this item, by virtue of the fact that they are both members of Whittlesey Town Council Planning Committee who has commented on the application, and took no part in the discussion or voting on this item)