Large 180m2 Farm Worker’s Dwelling approved

Bloomfields are delighted to report that they won an appeal for a new permanent agricultural occupancy conditioned dwelling to support a pheasant poult rearing enterprise.

The proposal in this case was for a 180m2 dwelling in a picturesque Kent LPA, adjacent to a large pheasant rearing unit to be occupied by the Applicant’s son who was a key part of the farming business. The financial test in this instance was satisfied, however, the functional test was always going to be more difficult to demonstrate to the LPA, given the niche nature of the enterprise, against the traditional beef and lamb business models, typically seen for these kinds of dwelling applications.

The application, was however refused by the LPA for reasonings citing there was no functional need to live on site, as well as the perceived landscape impacts of the development; despite the fact that the site was outside of any designated landscapes.

Unperturbed and knowing we had a strong case, Bloomfields decided to action a sequence of three events:
1. Submit a large new farm barn under permitted development adjacent to the existing barn and to provide a large visual screen to the proposed dwelling;
2. Submit a revised planning application for a smaller, 154m2 dwelling, in the same location; and
3. Submit an appeal against the LPA’s decision to refuse the 180m2 dwelling.

As part of the appeal submissions, Bloomfields made the decision to also submit a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA). Given that the appeal would take the form of a Hearing, it was deemed necessary to have a chartered landscape architect involved to speak at the hearing to robustly defend his findings, being there would be a minimal landscape impact as a result of the new dwelling.

The 5,000sqft permitted development barn was approved swiftly within 28 days of submission and soon thereafter we submitted our appeal, together with the LVIA, which referenced the newly approved 5,000ft2 barn. Not long after the appeal went live, we heard notification from the LPA that they would not be defending their two reasons for refusal and would not be appearing at the planning hearing. The Planning Inspector then decided to change the appeal procedure to Written Representations, and within only a few weeks upheld our appeal on the 180m2 dwelling.

The resubmission application for a smaller dwelling at 154m2 was then a given and was approved by the LPA soon after the appeal result. Interestingly, the LPA omitted to include an AOC on the smaller dwelling approval.

Our client now has the luxury of choosing whether to implement a larger dwelling, with an AOC; or a smaller one without!

To add further to our client’s satisfaction, our application for appeal costs was also approved and now Bloomfields is in the process or seeking to claw back a proportion of our client’s costs incurred in submitting the appeal.

This case study is a great example of where we saw there was an excellent enterprise fulfilling all the necessary policy requirements for a new AOC dwelling; and ultimately continuing to believe this even after the LPA refused the originally permission. At Bloomfields we seek to give honest and direct advice, both when we feel a proposal might not be seen favourably by the LPA but also to support cases which we see as being policy compliant and having the conviction to carry this through to appeal whenever needed.