Planning approval won for overlong poultry sheds
A development of poultry sheds built longer than their planning permission permitted has been allowed to stand as it is, following a retrospective application, costing the company that built it £40,000.
Earlier this year, Poultry World reported that eight sheds, built in Hemingford Grey, Cambridgeshire, extended almost 20m longer than planning permission allowed.
A council report revealed that the extra length caused the sheds to be closer to a main A14 trunk road and the “interior access road” was narrower than permitted. Inspectors also found cladding and ventilation to be different to that on the application, and a surface water pond larger than approved.
But the council said that, while opponents to the sheds would be disappointed with its decision to retain the sheds, any application – whether retrospective or not – must be considered only on its merits and recommended approval.
“[The council] must not allow its judgement to become clouded by the fact that a planning permission has not be complied with, or use its decision-making powers as an attempt to punish an applicant for not complying with a planning permission,” said the recommendation.
“It is important to remember that it is not an offence to carry out a development without planning permission… an offence would only occur if a subsequent enforcement notice was not complied with.
The sheds are owned by a firm named Amber Real Estate, of which 2 Sisters’ Ranjit Singh is a director, and it is understood the planning was undertaken by Acorus Rural Property Services. The retrospective planning application cost the company £40,000.
The mistake was put down to the full engineering plans being drawn up after the planning had been approved, but by a different company.