Holiday let plans deferred

Plans to turn farm buildings into holiday lets and stables have been deferred.

The Dalley family wanted to transform Meadowtown Farm in Meadowtown, near Shrewsbury, into holiday accommodation and an outdoor horse riding arena.

But Shropshire Council’s South Planning Committee deferred the plans after hearing the road network was unsuitable for the development.

The committee said it needed more information before making a decision.

Ben Payne, speaking on behalf of residents, said the plans would bring ‘stress and misery’ to locals.

He said the road network is not good enough to have holidaymakers using it and said it could be dangerous for those not used to the style of road.

He added: “They are not going to stay on site for the entire time they are holidaying there.

“It is not suitable and should be rejected.”

Councillor Simon Harris said the minibus taking councillors on a site visit struggled to deal with the road.

He added: “I don’t think this has been thought out well in any way. You should be enhancing the area, not looking at a roof of a shed.

“This application has not been thought out in any great detail.”

Tim Rogers, planning case officer, told the committee: “This application seeks full planning permission to convert two former agricultural buildings into four units of self-contained holiday accommodation.

“It also includes the use another agricultural building for stabling horses, form car parking/turning areas alongside, adapt an existing field gate and reinstate a compacted hardcore driveway beyond, and form a 20 x 40-metre manège (outdoor riding arena) comprising a level 125mm dressed surface over membranes and a stone sub-base, enclosed with kick boards and 1.5-metre high post-and-rail fencing. 

“Some parts of the three buildings concerned would be demolished. 

“Amended plans show the manège repositioned, changes to the parking arrangements, and a new southern entrance omitted. 

“They also provide further details of the proposed alterations to the northern access. 

“Furthermore, despite some earlier references to day visitors and off-site riding lessons, the applicants’ agent has now confirmed that these are no longer included in the application, with the stables and manège to be used only by the applicants themselves and holidaymakers staying on-site.”

He added: “The site comprises a farmstead and two paddocks on the southern edge of Meadowtown, a hamlet two-and-a-half miles southwest of Worthen in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). 

“It is bounded to the north by the Grade II-listed, 17th century timber-framed Meadowtown Hall, plus unrelated agricultural buildings and land, to the west and southwest by a byway with a small overgrown quarry (now a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)) beyond, and to the east and southeast by larger fields owned by the applicant.”

The plans were objected to by Worthen with Shelve Parish Council, which was concerned by access being by a single track road.