Go-ahead for poultry manager house plans

County planners ignored the professional advice of their officers this week and granted permission to build a house for a poultry manager in open countryside.

Applicant David Thomas submitted the plans to build the house along with a garage at Sherrington Manor Farm in Broxwood near Kington.

He said a manager was much needed to live at the site of the 370-acre farm which has five broiler units and produces around 900,000 birds per year. The enterprise also has arable crop rotations, cider apple orchards, grassland, and a small herd of suckler cows.

Pembridge Parish Council said they recognised the need for a dwelling on the site and supported the proposals.

And a total of 18 residents wrote in support of the plans and ward member Roger Phillips also spoke in favour of the scheme.

Officer Adam Lewis said the scheme went against the council’s core strategy, local plan and did not satisfy the special circumstances which allow a new house to be built in open countryside.

Ten councillors voted to approve the proposals, three voted against and one abstained.