Joe’s Barn east of Sough Clough Wood, Meanley Estate, Easington Road, Slaidburn, Clitheroe BB7 3AF
Proposed mixed use as farm welfare accommodation, shoot rest accommodation and guest accommodation
Design, Access, Planning and Heritage Statement June 2020 JDTPL0190
Judith Douglas BSc (Hons), Dip TP, MRTPI
8 Southfield Drive, West Bradford, Clitheroe, Lancashire, BB7 4TU Telephone: 01200 425051 Mobile: 07729 302644 Email: [email protected] Website: www.jdouglastownplanning.co.uk
Registered Office: 8 Southfield Drive, West Bradford, Clitheroe, Lancashire, BB7 4TU. Incorporated in England No. 09911421 Design, Access, and Planning Heritage Statement
Barn East of Sough Clough Wood, Meanley Estate, Easington Road Slaidburn June 2020
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 This application has been prepared by Judith Douglas Town Planning Ltd on behalf of the applicant Victoria Oyston on behalf of the Meanley Estate.
1.3 The application should be read in conjunction with the following plans and documents:
6039 001 Ground and first floor plans as existing
6039 002 Ground and first floor plans as proposed
6039 003 Existing and proposed site plan
OS location plan
2 LAND MANAGEMENT AND SHOOTING RIGHTS
2.1 The Meanley Estate comprises 2,500 acres of land on Easington Fell around Meanley. The land is managed for grazing also with a large emphasis on land management for conservation. Over the last 25 years, the Meanley Estate has carried out regeneration work on Easington and Harrop Fell to encourage heather regrowth and to encourage regrowth of traditional moorland species by reducing stocking levels of grazing and extensive bracken control. The estate manages shoots over its own land and over neighbouring land in partnership arrangement. The shooting rights managed by the Meanley Estate include: Easington Fell 1,800 acres Harrop Fold 500 acres Pinewood (Grindleton Fell) 500 acres Broadhead (Slaidburn) 100 acres Manor House (Newton) 350 Acres The Estate also works in partnership with Browsholme Hall manging land for shooting.
2.2 The land at Meanley Estate had been managed for shooting by the current owner for the last 25 years. Management has included the planting of over 700,000 trees and thousands of shrubs together with moorland regeneration. Sheep have been excluded from areas of woodland which allows it to regenerate naturally and provide cover for raising game birds. Reducing grazing pressure on moorland together with careful management of heather improves the habitat for grouse breeding.
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Barn East of Sough Clough Wood, Meanley Estate, Easington Road Slaidburn June 2020
2.3 In addition to using the land to raise game birds the management of the land has been carried out in a way which actively encourages and replenishes woodland areas to provide a home for various plant, animal, and bird species. The woodlands are now abundant in bluebells and wild clover. Threatened species including bats, otters, lapwing, curlew, greylag goose and songbirds have been increasing in number. Wetland areas have been created where there were none previously and this has further diversified habitat and associated species. The Estate is currently erecting bird and bat boxes.
2.4 The Estate has just entered into a new Stewardship Scheme to further progress efforts to improve woodland, hedging, stonewalling set aside areas for ground nesting birds, rush control and protection of natural habitat. Early work by the Estate received an award from Purdey for Conservation.
2.5 The Estate employs a full-time Estate Manager. He is a family man with children and lives on the Estate at Fellside. He releases raised game birds into suitable habitats within the Estate each year which includes pheasant, partridge and duck. He manages the moorland to encourage grouse. Grouse prefer differing heights and maturity of heather for nesting and feeding, management of the land provides this. The Estate Manager has a full-time assistant who lives in Clitheroe and travels into work. This year the Estate aims to re-introduce English Partridge back to the area. They are a native breed in demise. It is an intensive long-term aim which is anticipated to take 5 to 6 years before being fully established due to the challenges in providing the correct habitat.
2.6 Part of the land is let out to tenant farmers on herbage agreements. There are three tenant farms on the Estate- Manor Farm, Broadhead Farm, Robinsons Farm and Fellside Farm.
2.7 The Estate has recently applied for a grant to diversify into clay shooting as part of a government policy to support the diversification of farming businesses.
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Barn East of Sough Clough Wood, Meanley Estate, Easington Road Slaidburn June 2020
3.0 EXISTING BUSINESS
3.1 The income to the Estate gained from the recreational activity of shooting currently accounts for 25% of the overall income of the Estate.
3.2 Shooting on the Estate comprises ‘driven days’, ‘let days’, ‘rough days’ and ‘stalking’. Driven days let days and rough days refer to shooting birds, the difference being how the day is organised in terms of the experience of the participants and the location of the shooting. Stalking refers to stalking of deer.
3.3 The British Association for Shooting and Conservation list the open season for gamebirds, waterfowl and deer in the UK. A summary of this is as follows (date inclusive): Pheasant Oct 1- Feb1 Partridge Sept 1 - Feb 1 Red Grouse Aug 12-Dec 10 Black Grouse Aug 20 -Dec 10 Duck and Goose inland Sept 1- Jan 31
Red, Sika, Fallow Deer Stags/Bucks Aug 1st - April 30th Red, Sika, Fallow Deer Hinds/Does Nov 1st - Mar 31st Roe Bucks April 1st – Oct 31st Roe Does Nov 1st – Mar 31st.
3.4 On driven days the guests arrive at Fellside Farm which provides facilities as a ‘shoot lodge’. This comprises a room where outside caterers serve breakfast. The party comprises 8-10 ‘guns’ (people with their own gun participating in the shoot) together with anyone accompanying them but not shooting (partners). Driven days are usually booked by individuals. The shooting party is assisted by employed staff including 30 ‘beaters’ and 5 or 6 ‘pickers up’. The beaters are local people employed for the day who traverse the shooting area driving out birds. The pickers up with their dogs collect birds that have been shot. Birds that are collected are taken back to Fellside where they are chilled. These are then either taken home by the participants or sold. Whilst this is a labour-intensive activity the income derived is sufficient to support it. The average charge for a day’s shooting is around £1000.
3.5 Let days run on a similar format but are booked out to groups or syndicates. This might include less experience people. Rough shoots might occur 8-10 days in the season and involves Page | 4 Judith Douglas Town Planning Ltd
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Barn East of Sough Clough Wood, Meanley Estate, Easington Road Slaidburn June 2020
shooting birds that are around the edges of the land. The party is not accompanied by beaters and might have 5-6 guns plus the game keeper and two helpers.
3.6 The wild population of roe and sika deer is expanding. Over-grazing by wild deer can damage woodland. Shooting helps to maintain the population at a healthy level and removes deer. Sika deer are a prized quarry and stalking starts at 3 am and 3pm (pre-dawn and pre-dusk). On a deer shooting days lunch is provided at Fellside or Joe’s Barn. Dinner is provided at Fellside Farm. The food is provided by local outside caterers. Joe’s Barn is also used by employees on the Estate as a rest area when working.
3.7 The Estate is also required to manage the deer population on Untied Utility land at Pinewood which is leased by a third party for the management and growth of commercial woodland.
4.0 ENTERPRISE PROPOSALS
4.1 The Estate is intending to provide clay shooting in the spring and summer months to extend the shooting season. This will be within the permitted development limit of 28 days per calendar year. Clay shoots use specialist equipment including clay traps which are loaded on to trailer and placed in various locations across the land (3 or 4 four traps are used in one day) to simulate a pheasant shoot. They are battery operated. It is intended that refreshment will be provided for people attending clay shoots at both Fellside and Joe’s Barn.
4.2 The storage of guns and ammunition is controlled by law. This includes keeping guns locked away when not in use by the person who holds the license for the gun. The Home Office document - Firearms Security A Brief Guide indicates that guns should be kept in a locked gun cabinet or similar secure container when not in use. If they are transported in a vehicle they need to be out of sight and locked away. The applicant provides gun cabinets at Fellside Farm and wishes to provide a similar facility at Joe’s barn.
4.3 Currently most people attending shoots come for the day. Where people have travelled long distances to attend the shoot they stay in local overnight accommodation. Sometimes there is difficulty in finding suitable gun storage or accommodation generally. This difficulty arises particularly with stalking sika deer which involves pre-dawn stalking. It is proposed to provide over-night accommodation at Joe’s Barn to cater for people travelling longer distances.
4.4 Provision of sleeping accommodation at Joe’s Barn will also add value to the experience of taking part in shooting on the estate. It is close to where the shoots happen being centrally
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located within the land that has shooting rights. The building has magnificent views across the countryside and is in a quiet location. Staying at the accommodation at Joe’s Barn as part of a shooting holiday will provide a unique experience and enhancement over and above the activity of shooting. The accommodation will provide a double or twin room at first floor and living, dining and kitchen at ground floor.
4.5 It is anticipated that the provision of the overnight accommodation and the addition of clay shooting days will increase the overall income of the Estates to 50% from shooting related activities.
5 SITE DESCRIPTION
5.1 The application site is stone barn east of Sough Clough Wood, Meanley. It is referred to locally as Joe’s Barn. The barn has been adapted to provide welfare accommodation for people working on the estate and is used as a refreshment and rest area on shooting days . Access to the barn is along and existing unmade track from Meanley. It is stands on its own in the landscape there are no other buildings nearby.
5.2 The site and the surrounding area is within an area designate as area of outstanding natural beauty in the adopted Housing and Economic Development DPD proposals map (sheet 1). There is a public footpath to the west of the barn. A building appears in the position of the barn on the ordnance survey map c1850 as an unnamed building. To the east of the barn is a brook. The Forest of Bowland landscape character type is Upper Hodder- ‘undulating lowland farmland with parkland’.
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Barn East of Sough Clough Wood, Meanley Estate, Easington Road Slaidburn June 2020
Approximate area over which Meanley Estate organises shoots. The icon denotes the location of Joe’s Barn
6 PLANNING HISTORY
6.1 There have been no previous planning applications at the site.
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7 PLANNING POLICY 7.1 The Development Plan for this site is the Ribble Valley Core Strategy (adopted 2014) and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) (2019).
NPPF (2019) 7.2 Section 6 Building a Strong Competitive Economy.
Core Strategy (2014)
7.3 The following policies are of relevance to the proposal. The polices of main relevance are in bold:
Key Statement DS1: Development Strategy Key Statement DS2: Sustainable Development Key Statement EN2: Landscape Key Statement EN4: Biodiversity and Geodiversity Key Statement EN5: Heritage Assets Key Statement EC1: Business and Employment Development Key Statement EC3: Visitor Economy Policy DMG1: General Considerations Policy DMG2: Strategic Considerations Policy DMG3: Transport and Mobility Policy DME1: Protecting Trees and Woodlands Policy DME2: Landscape and Townscape Protection Policy DME3: Site and Species Protection and Conservation Policy DME4: Protecting Heritage Assets. Policy DMH5: Residential and Curtilage Extensions Policy DMB1: Supporting Business Growth and the Local Economy Policy DMB2: The Conversion of Barns and Other Rural Buildings for Employment Uses Policy DMB3: Recreation and Tourism Development
8 HERITAGE ASSESMENT
8.1 The barn is constructed out of random stone with dressed stone surrounds to the window and door openings and a blue slate roof. The barn is not named on ordnance survey maps but appears on the circa 1850 ordnance survey map for the area (source Lancashire County Council mariomaps). It has a typical centrally placed arched top wagon entrance on the north west elevation. There are doors in the western end of the main elevations which are likely to have previously given access to a shippon. The previous adaptation of the building
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to provide welfare accommodation and a rest and refreshment area for shoots has retained the main features of the building.
8.2 The building is not listed and is not within a conservation area. However, it is set within an area designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. As a building of some undoubted age constructed in a typical traditional style for the area it can be considered to be a non- designated heritage asset. The proposed development will not alter the building and will not affect its historic character. By continuing to put the building to a use which is consistent with its conservation the proposal will sustain the heritage value of the building. This is in conformity with Key Statement EN5 and Policy DME4
9 ASSESSMENT
9.1 The main issue is whether in principle the change of use of the building from agricultural/shoot use (farm welfare accommodation and shoot rest accommodation) to a mixed use as farm welfare accommodation, shoot rest accommodation and guest accommodation is acceptable and whether the new use would have any adverse impact on the qualities of the landscape of the AONB.
9.2 Key Statement EC3: Visitor Economy states: “Proposals that contribute to and strengthen the visitor economy of the Ribble Valley will be encouraged, including the creation of new accommodation and tourism facilities through the conversion of existing buildings or associated with existing visitor attractions…”
9.3 Key Statement EC1: Business and Employment Development states that “Developments that contribute to farm diversification, strengthening of the wider rural and village economies or that promote town centre vitality and viability will be supported in principle”.
9.4 Policy DMB3 relates specifically to recreation and tourism development. It states “planning permission will be granted for development proposals that extend the range of tourism and visitor facilities in the Borough Tourism. This is subject to the following criteria being met: “1. The proposal must not conflict with other policies of this plan; 2. The proposal must be physically well related to an existing main settlement or village or to an existing group of buildings, except where the proposed facilities are required in conjunction with a particular countryside attraction and there are no suitable existing buildings or developed sites available; Page | 9 Judith Douglas Town Planning Ltd
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3. The development should not undermine the character, quality or visual amenities of the plan area by virtue of its scale, siting, materials or design; 4. The proposals should be well related to the existing highway network. It should not generate additional traffic movements of a scale and type likely to cause undue problems or disturbance. Where possible the proposals should be well related to the public transport network; 5. The site should be large enough to accommodate the necessary car parking, service areas and appropriate landscaped areas; and 6. The proposal must take into account any nature conservation impacts using suitable survey information and where possible seek to incorporate any important existing associations within the development. Failing this then adequate mitigation will be sought.
In the Forest of Bowland AONB the following criteria also apply:
1. The proposal should display a high standard of design appropriate to the area. 2. The site should not introduce built development into an area largely devoid of structures (other than those directly related to agriculture or forestry uses). In the AONB it is important that development is not of a large scale. In the AONB and immediately adjacent areas proposals should contribute to the protection, conservation and enhancement of the natural beauty of the landscape. Within the open countryside proposals will be required to be in keeping with the character of the landscape area and should reflect the local vernacular, scale, style, features and building materials.”
9.5 Key statement EC3 aims to support the visitor economy of the Ribble Valley. The shoots on and organised by the Meanley Estate are an existing tourism facility which bring visitors into the Ribble Valley and money into the local economy. The accommodation proposed to support this activity is directly linked to the Visitor Economy.
9.6 Key Statement EC1 encourages development that supports farm diversification, strengthening of the wider rural and village economies. Managing shooting rights on the existing farms on the Meanley Estate and neighbouring farms already contributes to farm diversification and the local rural and village economies. The provision of the proposed accommodation will further strengthen this by improving facilities and increase the contribution that the shooting and associated activities provides to the local economy. It is anticipated that the proposal which will facilitate the lengthening of the shooting season to include clay shooting in spring and summer will increase revenue to the Estate. It will also
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provide additional employment within the local economy during all seasons by hiring in staff to facilitate shoots such as ‘beaters’ and using local companies to provide on-site catering.
9.7 The more specific requirement of policy DMB3 can also be met by the proposal. The development is required by a specific countryside attraction of game shooting. Joe’s Barn is in the centre of the estate and at the centre of the land in the surrounding area where there are shooting rights managed by the Estate. The convenience of the central location of the building within the Estate was the reason that it was originally adapted for welfare use for the Estate workers. (See aerial map above). The provision of over-night accommodation for guests, including facilities to securely store guns, in a central location in relation to where the shoots take place will be very attractive to guests. This is particularly true when guests are visiting to shoot sika deer which takes place in the early hours of the morning and in the evening.
9.8 As the development involves the adaptation of an existing building in the countryside which requires no alteration to the exterior of the building it will not undermine the character, quality of visual amenities of the area. The amount of vehicular activity will not significantly increase as a result of the creation of the accommodation since the same vehicles associated with the shooting activities will be visiting the facility. Indeed, in terms of the overnight accommodation it has the potential to reduce the amount of vehicle trips that would occur if visitors stayed off-site.
9.9 Parking of vehicles will be on the existing land surrounding the building. The submitted drawings indicate the areas to be use for parking. As the site is accessed by four-wheeled drive vehicles parking is informal. As the proposal uses an existing building it will not introduce built development into an area devoid of structures. The proposal full accords with the requirements of policy DMB3.
9.10 The Framework at paragraph 83. States that planning decisions should enable: a) the sustainable growth and expansion of all types of business in rural areas both through the conversion of existing buildings and well-design new buildings; b) the development and diversification of agricultural and other land-based rural businesses; c) sustainable rural tourism and leisure developments with respect the character of the countryside….”
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Clearly the management of the land for shooting purposes falls within the scope of the enterprises listed paragraph 83. The proposed development is to facilitate the use of the land and the effective running of this rural business which supports both agricultural and tourism.
10. CONCLUSION
10.1 The proposed use of Joe’s Barn as farm welfare accommodation, shoot rest accommodation and guest accommodation will support the existing business activities on the Meanley Estate and has the potential to increase income into the local economy. The development will extend the range of tourism and visitor facilities in the Borough and fully complies with the requirements of policy DMB3. The accommodation is required in conjunction with the existing shooting activities on the Estate which is and an existing countryside attraction.
10.2 The building is already in use as welfare accommodation for farm workers and as a refreshment and rest area on shoots. The introduction of the use as overnight guest accommodation in connection with the shooting activities on the Estate requires minimal alteration to the property and no external alterations. The vehicle track to the site already exists. The development will have no adverse impact on the qualities of the landscape of the AONB.
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