Fight to keep caravans on North Herefordshire fruit farm

A North Herefordshire fruit grower is fighting an order to remove 18 workers’ caravans at a remote borderland farm.

Ledbury-based Haygrove, one of the UK’s largest soft fruit growers, had tried to get retrospective planning permission for the caravans at its Mahollam Road fruit farm near the Welsh border at Huntington, along with a sewage packet treatment plant and access road.

Fields of blueberry bushes and dwarf cherry trees have already planted at the farm next to where the caravans currently sit.

Among around 30 local objections to the caravans, Huntington parish council “strenuously” opposed the planning bid, saying it “would more than double the population of the parish for five months of the year”.

Herefordshire Council ruled it had not been shown that the waste generated by up to 108 temporary residents of the caravans would not harm local waterways.

The caravans also appeared “as stark and alien features” in the landscape, and impinged on the nearby Turret Castle, a scheduled ancient monument, the council said.

It followed up its refusal by serving an enforcement notice on Haygrove in August, giving it 90 days to remove the caravans from the land, and 120 days to remove electricity, water and sewage infrastructure.

Haygrove, which had already appealed against the refusal of permission to the government’s Planning Inspectorate, then appealed against this enforcement also.

This latter appeal has now been formally withdrawn, as apparently has the council’s original enforcement notice.

An email now published from Haygrove’s agent “invites the council to consider the expediency of issuing another enforcement notice”.

“If the council chooses to issue another enforcement notice, our client will be appealing the enforcement notice and asking for the s174 [enforcement] appeal to be conjoined with the s78 [planning refusal] appeal,” it says.

According to a Herefordshire Council spokesperson: “A new notice (w)as served the same day as the original was withdrawn.
“If they want to appeal again, a new appeal will have to be submitted.”

The appeal is expected to be heard in late January.