Polytunnels will scar our countryside
Tuesley Farm - Campaign
The prospect of a new ‘polytunnel’ development scarring the countryside at Tuesley Farm near Milford came closer with the announcement by Waverley Borough Council (WBC) officers that they intend to recommend approval of the scheme despite strong objections from local residents and countryside campaigners.
Officers revealed their intention to allow the scheme to go ahead during a meeting at WBC called by Jeremy Hunt, MP for South West Surrey, and attended by, among others, Isabel Mason of the Tuesley Farm Campaign, and Tim Harrold, Chairman of the Surrey Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). The Council was represented at the meeting by Steven Thwaites, WBC’s Director of Planning & Development, and John Anderson, Development Control & Policy Manager. It was called specifically to discuss the new application by Hall Hunter Partnership for more polytunnels at Tuesley Farm, which is on Green Belt land in countryside designated as an Area of Great Landscape Value (AGLV) between Milford Station and Hydestile. The decision is a major policy reversal by the Council, which previously opposed polytunnel development on the Tuesley Farm site.
Two years ago there was an 11-day appeal when WBC, strongly backed by the Tuesley Farm Campaign and CPRE, sought to enforce planning policy against 95 acres of polytunnel development and 45 mobile homes for a seasonal picking work force.
Hall Hunter Partnership lost the appeal and took the matter to the High Court who supported the Inspector’s decision that the polytunnels and caravans were inappropriate development in this beautiful stretch of countryside. All of this cost a great deal of money and time. Now Hall Hunter is seeking a planning application for more polytunnels that represents a dangerous precedent for protective countryside designations everywhere.
Jeremy Hunt MP has supported the Tuesley Farm Campaign from the outset and spoke at the appeal. He commented:
"This new development will disfigure beautiful countryside. The farmland is overlooked by the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) which is equivalent in status to a National Park. The policy is clear: landscapes in Surrey such as this are precious and must be protected.”Isabel Mason, who lives at Clock Barn Farm, spoke on behalf of the Tuesley Farm Campaign. She said today: "Although I speak for residents whose amenity is affected, I also have to take a stand on behalf of all those visitors who walk, ride, and cycle on Rights of Way that run across and around Tuesley Farm. The polytunnels and caravans will also be highly visible from the West Surrey Golf Course, from Gibbet Hill at Hindhead, and many other parts of the AONB. We have to make sure that this repeat attempt to overturn the High Court decision taken so recently is stopped."
Tim Harrold, Chairman of CPRE Surrey, who also spoke at the Public Inquiry concerning the polytunnels and caravans at Tuesley Farm, added: "Waverley Borough Council has clear policies supporting Green Belt land and countryside designated as Areas of Great Landscape Value and of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The debate about this new application is not therefore a matter of economic argument but planning principle in defence of the best of Surrey countryside.
Waverley Borough Council has a duty to protect and enhance AGLV land and to ensure openness of the Green Belt. This is why they have joined with local authorities across the county in a campaign to protect Areas of Great Landscape Value which act as a buffer to the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is wholly inconsistent for WBC officers to recommend approval of this application, especially as, at the Public Inquiry, they championed the need for planning policy to be observed. It is surprising therefore that after spending so much time, money and effort on this issue they now appear to have caved in to external pressure."
A meeting will be held at Waverley Borough Council offices on the evening of 14 November at which the polytunnel and caravan application will be discussed and debated. A final decision will be taken by Councillors at their meeting on 28 November.
Tim Harrold added: "I am amazed by WBC’s U-Turn on such an important policy issue. It is a matter of upholding the planning process and policies agreed by democratic decisions that have stood the test of time. They should not be overturned in the interests of economic expediency. All those concerned with landscape survival, rural beauty, and the countryside environment are watching this case. Many English visitors have seen the damage polytunnels have done in Spain and elsewhere where policy controls are relaxed; is this what we want for this country, for Waverley, and for Tuesley Farm?"
09.11.07
