An existing permission limited the number of skips for hire at the premises to 15. The appeal proposal involved discharging waste at the farm for sorting before disposal to a landfill site. In the inspector's view, this would substantially increase the proportion of non-farming and non-rural activity on the holding. This would be unacceptable and had not been justified on need grounds, she judged.
In addition, the inspector decided that the significant areas required for open storage and movement of large vehicles would undermine the area's character and appearance. While agreeing that farm diversification was to be supported, she held that if the business were allowed to grow as proposed it would be out of scale with the agricultural enterprise forming the primary use of the land.
DCS No: 34947650; Inspector: Susan Holland; Hearing.
