A Norfolk pig farmer has failed in a renewed bid for consent to build a three-bedroom bungalow for his family on his Hevingham property. The High Court has backed a government planning inspectors view that, after the foot-and-mouth epidemic, he was left with too few pigs to justify an on-site home.
Paul Brightwell, who currently lives with his family in a mobile home at The Piggeries, The Turn, Hevingham, Norfolk, had challenged the inspectors decision that, because pig stocks have dwindled to below 30 in the wake of the foot-and-mouth epidemic, there was no need for a worker to reside on-site.
Brightwell, who has temporary permission to site the mobile home on his property, applied to Broadland District Council to convert existing stables on the land to a single-storey, three-bedroom house, but the council refused permission in February 2001.
He appealed to the Secretary of State responsible for planning, but an inspector backed the councils decision in August 2001, having found that Brightwell’s herd of pigs had decreased from 65 in 1996 to 30 in 2000, and had suffered a “further significant reduction during 2001”.
Yesterday, Sullivan J backed the inspectors decision, ruling that she had a duty to consider the matter in the circumstances that existed at the date it came before her, and could not take into account Brightwells plans to replenish his pig stocks.
PLS News 15/10/02
