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LUCY CARPENTER- PLANNING CONSULTANT, BA HONS MRTPI. PLANNING SUPPORTING STATEMENT INCORPORATING DESIGN AND ACCESS AND TRANSPORT STATEMENT. FULL APPLICATION FOR ERECTION OF 1 DETACHED FARMHOUSE INCORPORATING FARM OFFICE AND WELFARE FACILITIES, TO REPLACE EXISTING STRAW STORE BUILDING. FARMYARD AT ‘LODGE FARM’, BARDFIELD END GREEN, THAXTED, DUNMOW, ESSEX,CM6 3PZ. Applicants: DAVID MAGNESS FARMS LTD. Architects: Donald Purkiss & Associates Architects. Prepared by: Lucy Carpenter, Planning Consultant. ‘THE MANSE’, 27 BEAR STREET, NAYLAND, COLCHESTER, ESSEX, CO6 4HX. TEL: 01206 263835 MOBILE: 07850 929075 E MAIL: [email protected]. Proposed dwelling, ‘Lodge Farm’, Bardfield End Green, Thaxted, Essex. Page 1 LUCY CARPENTER- PLANNING CONSULTANT, BA HONS MRTPI. 1.0 INTRODUCTION. 1.01 This full application relates to ‘Lodge Farm’, a farmyard site between Thaxted and Great Bardfield. It comprises a range of Victorian barns of historic interest that have a number of modern barns attached to and adjacent to them, the majority of Which are in active use as the main farmstead for David Magness Farms Ltd. 1.02 The farming enterprise is a family business tending to 1100 acres in the Thaxted and Debden Green area. Mr Magness Senior is set to retire in the eXisting farmhouse, and Thomas Magness Will take over the running of the farms. Lodge Farm is the current base for the farming operations around Thaxted and Lodge Farm serves as the main yard for the Whole farming business. HoWever, there is no farmhouse here or elseWhere that is oWned by the business for Thomas Magness to reside in. Thomas and the other agricultural workers must travel to Lodge Farm each day, Where there are no Welfare facilities. 1.03 A farmhouse on the Lodge Farm site Would meets the business needs, being located centrally Within the farmland it serves, adjacent to eXisting farm buildings Where machinery etc is stored; it Would provide on site supervision of the livestock; a farm office and Welfare facilities for farm Workers, Where there is currently none; supervision of the valuable machinery and equipment stored in the barns; and Thomas Magness Would no longer need to travel to Work. 1.04 The recently introduced cattle herd, pigs and turkeys at Lodge Farm restore livestock to the farm for the first time since the foot and mouth pandemic in 2001 When the cattle herd Was disbanded. This neW beef and meat production supplies a local butchers business, operated by a member of the family, leading to farm diversification and a sustainable food supply business, supporting a prosperous rural economy as encouraged in the NPPF. 1.05 The siting of the modest, Well-designed farmhouse Would replace an eXisting straw barn. There Will be a significant reduction in footprint and built form as a result, and this Would have benefits to the rural character of the area and the setting of the historic farmstead. There Would also be enhancement though the additional native species planting proposed. 1.06 This statement of case Will demonstrate that the development meets all three strands of sustainability, as set out in the NPPF. It Will also provide a valuable additional house, purposefully designed to accord With the characteristics of the site and its surroundings, serving the farmland that surrounds it. In assessing the proposal and Proposed dwelling, ‘Lodge Farm’, Bardfield End Green, Thaxted, Essex. Page 2 LUCY CARPENTER- PLANNING CONSULTANT, BA HONS MRTPI. applying the planning balance and the presumption in favour of sustainable development for decision-making, I conclude that planning permission should be granted. 2.0 SITE DESCRIPTION AND THE SURROUNDINGS. General ConteXt. 2.01 The site is located in the Parish of Thaxted in the hamlet of Bardfield End Green. It is situated midWay between Thaxted to the West and Little Bardfield to the east. Travelling eastwards out of Thaxted, along Bardfield Road, there are groups of frontage houses, and then scattered farmsteads, interspersed With fields in agricultural production. After approXimately 1 kilometre, Bardfield End Green can be found on the south-Western side of the road. This comprises a small group of houses set back behind a village green that is used by Thaxted Cricket Club, and there is a timber club house. The housing is mainly traditional, With some listed buildings, predominantly two storey, With rendered elevations under clay tiled and thatched roofs. 2.02 Just after the green continuing eastwards open fields bordered by hedges front either side of the road before a small group of semi-detached houses is reached, situated on the southern side of the road. These are former farm Worker cottages, rendered and tiled, of no particular architectural merit. Immediately after this group is a long, straight private road heading due south, that terminates at Lodge Farm farmyard. Agricultural fields lie either side of the drive, With some hedgeroW and trees on its eastern side. The Western side is open. Proposed dwelling, ‘Lodge Farm’, Bardfield End Green, Thaxted, Essex. Page 3 LUCY CARPENTER- PLANNING CONSULTANT, BA HONS MRTPI. 2.03 Before the farmyard is reached there is a detached dwelling on the Western side of the access, set in a large square garden bounded on its northern and Western sides by agricultural fields. This Was originally constructed in 1956 as a hostel incorporating a study centre for the Bachad FelloWship. It Was then converted to a single dWelling, knoWn as ‘The Lodge’. It is under separate oWnership to Lodge Farm and the applicant. 2.04 The track terminates at the farmyard, that is in active use and is proposed to remain as such. There is a conglomeration of buildings forming a large rectangle in front of the end of the access, some further buildings to the east of this, and the application site, comprising the straw barn, to the West. 2.05 Just north of the straw barn, between it and ‘The Lodge’, is a small area of enclosed land that is disused and forming its Western boundary With the field there is a pond. The photographs beloW shoW this land, that is enclosed With trees and hedges apart from the eastern side that abuts the drive/farmyard. It has recently been fenced off for the cattle herd. Proposed dwelling, ‘Lodge Farm’, Bardfield End Green, Thaxted, Essex. Page 4 LUCY CARPENTER- PLANNING CONSULTANT, BA HONS MRTPI. 2.06 The application site lies to the south of this area, behind the roW of trees on the left hand side in the left hand photograph above, and the right hand side in the second photograph. 2.07 A public footpath runs around the Western boundary of the application site and the pond, and the eastern side of the field, travelling northWards to Bardfield End Green. In the opposite direction it leads to Holder’s Green. There is some vegetation in the form of trees and hedgeroWs, in part screening the straw barn and parcel of land from the footpath. Proposed dwelling, ‘Lodge Farm’, Bardfield End Green, Thaxted, Essex. Page 5 LUCY CARPENTER- PLANNING CONSULTANT, BA HONS MRTPI. 2.08 The main conglomeration of buildings includes an attractive range of red brick Victorian red brick barns. These Were built at some time between 1844 and 1876, according to the historic mapping. They have slate roofs and are laid out in an E shaped courtyard plan, typical of a 19 century loWland miXed farm. Open fronted shelter sheds face onto the central open cattle yards enclosed on the eastern side by the threshing barn, granary and barns for storing straw, straw, root crops and machinery. The stables Were situated in the northernmost barn. The photographs beloW shoW the Victorian barns, and the more modern attachments in some places masking the attractive barns. Despite this, the original structures remain intact and in active farming use. 2.09 To the east of the main barns is a corrugated sheeting range of barns, some of Which are open fronted. Proposed dwelling, ‘Lodge Farm’, Bardfield End Green, Thaxted, Essex. Page 6 LUCY CARPENTER- PLANNING CONSULTANT, BA HONS MRTPI. 2.10 To the opposite side, Western side of the main range is the application site. This comprises a very large open fronted straw barn constructed of a steel frame With asbestos sheeting. This is on the siting of the former farmhouse that Was demolished at some time in the 1960’s. The footings of the house are still evident in the barn. The barn vieWed from the public footpath. Proposed dwelling, ‘Lodge Farm’, Bardfield End Green, Thaxted, Essex. Page 7 LUCY CARPENTER- PLANNING CONSULTANT, BA HONS MRTPI. 2.11 To the south of the straw barn is a hardened storage area for farming equipment and materials. Thereafter there is open agricultural land. The site is relatively flat and free from constraints. 3.0 SITE HISTORY AND THE PROPOSALS. Site History. 3.01 A separate history document accompanies the application. It sets out in detail the history of the overall site and the farming area. In summary it is evident that ‘Lodge Farm’ Was originally part of the largest park oWned by the manor of Thaxted. The purpose of these parks Was to preserve the Wood and the hunting animals for the manor. 3.02 The Great Park can be traced back to 1393, and the first knoWn reference to a lodge Within the park comes from the bailiffs accounts of 1380-81. Given its position in the centre of the park, it is likely that this lodge Was on the site of the farmyard at Lodge Farm. It Would have provided a central base for parkers to conduct the running of the park With straw and Wood stores. 3.03 Lodge Farm and other property/land Was sold to Guy’s Hospital in London in 1737.

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