My parents are appealing against a rejection for planning permission. They live on 5 acres of land near Baydon, Berkshire on a mobile home (hence the reason for rejection). They have built a sustainable smallholding, which is producing eggs and meat for the local community.
Food and energy prices continue to escalate in price. A couple in West Berkshire are attempting to sustainable produce food at a competitive price using renewable energy. However, they are having difficulties with the district planning committee as their strategy doesn’t conform to the committees ideals.
Chris and Zoe have bought 5 acres of paddocks in West Berkshire, located near Baydon. They are in the process of appealing the decision of the planning committees refusal for planning permission. The planning permission is to allow them to live in a mobile home on the land for three years, to enable them to manage a sustainable smallholding. This has been refused as they live in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). As can be seen on the link the (Google, 2012) the land is adjacent to the M4, a busy A road, Membury Services and a grass airfield. For this reason it cannot be recognised as an AONB. Contradicting this ruling, local developers in the area have recently been granted planning permission to build a £2M racing stables on the opposite side of the road in the same AONB (Newbury, 2012).
This is a classic case of NIMBYism from the planning permission committee, as the committee feel that they are giving precedent to people living an alternative lifestyle. Yes, you guessed it, Chris and Zoe live in a double decker bus. However, unlike the majority of people living in alternative accommodation, the local community are in favour of them living in the area. This can be seen in the original planning application documentation (West Berks, 2012) . In fact locals in the area reported that crime had dramatically reduced in the area due to a night time presence in the area.
The planning application is to park a mobile home for the period of three years so that there is a 24 hour presence on the small holding. This is needed as the small holding produces free range chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys. As well as this the small holding also has cows, goats and extensive raised beds for growing vegetables. A 24 hour presence is required to stop theft and reduce ill health to the animals due to weather variations. This isn’t another attempt to develop the countryside, it is a project to produce outstanding food ethically and sustainably using low impact methods.
If you would like to support this cause please fill in this e-petition:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/42778
zoe_wilson50@hotmail.com
More information can be found at:
Google, 2012. https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=baydon&hl=en&ll=51.487924,-1.571335&spn=0.002034,0.003449&sll=52.8382,-2.327815&sspn=8.08612,14.128418&t=h&hnear=Baydon,+Wiltshire,+United+Kingdom&z=18
Newbury, 2012. http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2012/ap-mccoys-2m-stable-redevelopment-likely-to-go-ahead-as-wind-turbine-plans-are-refused
http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2012/ethical-produce-couple-launch-planning-appeal
http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2012/old-news-article-18863
http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2012/smallholding-bus-couple-given-marching-orders
https://twitter.com/JudithBuntingLD/status/277848246183948290/photo/1
West Berks, 2012. http://publicaccess.westberks.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=M1L4MTRD02K00
Chris and Zoe have bought 5 acres of paddocks in West Berkshire, located near Baydon. They are in the process of appealing the decision of the planning committees refusal for planning permission. The planning permission is to allow them to live in a mobile home on the land for three years, to enable them to manage a sustainable smallholding. This has been refused as they live in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). As can be seen on the link the (Google, 2012) the land is adjacent to the M4, a busy A road, Membury Services and a grass airfield. For this reason it cannot be recognised as an AONB. Contradicting this ruling, local developers in the area have recently been granted planning permission to build a £2M racing stables on the opposite side of the road in the same AONB (Newbury, 2012).
This is a classic case of NIMBYism from the planning permission committee, as the committee feel that they are giving precedent to people living an alternative lifestyle. Yes, you guessed it, Chris and Zoe live in a double decker bus. However, unlike the majority of people living in alternative accommodation, the local community are in favour of them living in the area. This can be seen in the original planning application documentation (West Berks, 2012) . In fact locals in the area reported that crime had dramatically reduced in the area due to a night time presence in the area.
The planning application is to park a mobile home for the period of three years so that there is a 24 hour presence on the small holding. This is needed as the small holding produces free range chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys. As well as this the small holding also has cows, goats and extensive raised beds for growing vegetables. A 24 hour presence is required to stop theft and reduce ill health to the animals due to weather variations. This isn’t another attempt to develop the countryside, it is a project to produce outstanding food ethically and sustainably using low impact methods.
If you would like to support this cause please fill in this e-petition:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/42778 zoe_wilson50@hotmail.com More information can be found at:
Google, 2012.
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=baydon&hl=en&ll=51.487924,-1.571335&spn=0.002034,0.003449&sll=52.8382,-2.327815&sspn=8.08612,14.128418&t=h&hnear=Baydon,+Wiltshire,+United+Kingdom&z=18 Newbury, 2012.
http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2012/ap-mccoys-2m-stable-redevelopment-likely-to-go-ahead-as-wind-turbine-plans-are-refused http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2012/ethical-produce-couple-launch-planning-appeal http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2012/old-news-article-18863 http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2012/smallholding-bus-couple-given-marching-orders https://twitter.com/JudithBuntingLD/status/277848246183948290/photo/1 West Berks, 2012.
http://publicaccess.westberks.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=M1L4MTRD02K00