Game bird keeper loses appeal to run bird and egg-producing operation
A Herefordshire game bird rearer and keeper has suffered a further setback in his bid to run a bird and egg producing operation at a sensitive rural spot
A Herefordshire game bird rearer and keeper has suffered a further setback in his bid to run a bird and egg-producing operation at a sensitive rural spot.
Gareth Morgan of Blackbridge Game applied in October 2023 for permission to put up sheds and enclosures for pheasants, partridges, quails and geese at Nacklestone Farm by the river Teme near Leintwardine.
Planning officer Emma Aram refused Mr Morgan’s application last December due to its visual and environmental impact, and the lack of detail given on deliveries to and from the site and therefore the impact of the scheme on road safety.
Mr Morgan appealed to the Government’s Planning Inspectorate. But now planning inspector K Townsend has dismissed this.
They said it was clear that the use of the land had already begun, with “several” timber bird houses and pens in use, making it effectively a retrospective appeal.
These “result in harm to the character and appearance of the area”, the inspector concluded.
They also ruled it “cannot be certain” from the way waste from the birds was contained and disposed of, that this “would not result in likely adverse effects upon the integrity of the SAC the river Teme through increased phosphates”.
This meant the question of road safety was then irrelevant to the appeal.
The structures are now likely to be subject to planning enforcement.
Earlier this year Mr Morgan had further planning appeals dismissed over an unpermitted static caravan at the site, and the council’s enforcement against this.
Herefordshire Council had previously given him six months to leave the caravan and eight to remove it completely.
The planning inspector in that case ruled that there was “no demonstrable functional need for the year-round occupation of the mobile home”.