The Emily Estate Planning Application for Yarlington Manor Farm has been submitted and we need to oppose it.
Comments and objections must be filed by 21st July 2024. To do this, please use this link and complete the form.
You should write your own text, but we have laid out some of the key points on how this application contravenes principles of planning policy laid out in the following documents:
South Somerset plan
North Cadbury and Yarlington Neighbourhood plan
Natural England Guide
1. The Somerset Plan
Under Policy EP 446 (referring to expansion of existing Businesses in the Countryside), Emily Estate will need to demonstrate that the new farm needs to be situated at Black Eight Acres so that the old farm can be converted into housing. But:
– Emily Estate has provided no cogent reason why they cannot re-develop the current farms at Yarlington and Castle Cary
– The Policy EP446 requires existing buildings to be used where possible. We believe buildings can be re-used and EE has given no cogent reason why not.
– Government Planning Policy states that land outside the curtilage of the current farm should only be used where essential to the needs of the business. If the current farm can be developed, there is clearly no NEED to build a new farm.
– The Policy states there should be no adverse impact on countryside. It is unarguable that a large new development at Black Eight Acres (with the potential to spread further) will be a blight on cherished views to and from Yarlington Sleights as well as adversely affecting views from Designated Open Access Areas including Corton Ridge and Cadbury Castle.
– Any new development should not negatively impact existing wildlife and their habitats. A new farm would obviously impact on the ancient copse and the hedgerows that line the footpaths bordering the proposed site.
– In addition to the above, taking this and all the other developments on Emily Estate land, we believe that an Independent Environmental Impact Assessment needs to be conducted on the whole Emily Estate before any planning decision is made.
Policy EP547 covers “Farm diversification”. Any diversification of Yarlington Manor Farm has to comply with certain criteria. For example:
· The scale, type and character of the proposal has to be compatible with its location and landscape setting.
– Creating a new farm and turning the old farm into a housing development are not compatible with either location or landscape setting.
· Appropriately located existing buildings should be re-used where possible.
– Building a new farm without re-using existing agricultural buildings is directly at odds with this requirement. Current buildings at Yarlington Manor Farm CAN be re-used as part of a modern farm as stated in the Independent Agricultural Report
· Any new buildings should be in scale with the surroundings and well related to any existing buildings on site.
– The creation of a new farm is clearly not in scale with the surrounding greenfield and is not well related to any existing buildings because there are none.
2. North Cadbury & Yarlington Neighbourhood Plan
The planning application is wholly inconsistent with the Neighbourhood Plan because:
– This is a site for which no development is deemed allowable within the Neighbourhood Plan
– The proposed development would destroy what is described in the
Plan as a view that is “most cherished and admired”.
3. Natural England Guide to Assessing Development proposal
The Guide on Agricultural land aims to:
· Protect the best and most versatile (BMV) agricultural land from significant, inappropriate or unsustainable development proposals.
· Protect all soils by managing them in a sustainable way. BUT:
– Black 8 Acres is classified as Grade 1 agricultural land (according to the latest UK Government Agricultural Land Classification Maps) and should not be built upon as it is BMV land – a rare commodity across the whole of the Southwest.
4. Environmental and agricultural reasons to object
– The proposed farm is defined as a large farm development at over 22,000m² plus dirty water lagoons.
– The proposals form part of a wider pattern by Emily Estate of taking farms out of use and building residential properties including holiday lets.
– The plans, as they stand, would involve poor farming practise bringing all livestock together on one site within a designated high TB area, according to the Independent Agricultural Report.
– There is a strong case to argue for a professionally Environmental Impact Assessment to be undertaken covering the whole of the Emily Estate developments.
Please visit the Somerset Planning Website to register your opposition using any or all of the above reasons. The more people who oppose it, the more likely the council will turn down the application.
Thank you for your support.
