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Update on tunnel planning application, July 2010

We have given Tonbridge and Malling substantial additional information to support our planning application to continue using tunnels to protect our soft fruit crops. We believe this answers all the questions and concerns raised both by the Council and by the local community, which we have actively consulted. Most recently in May we had a successful farm open morning where we showed the plans and detail of the application to the many attendees, and organised farm tours for those who were interested to see soft fruit growing in action.

We have given Tonbridge and Malling substantial additional information to support our planning application to continue using tunnels to protect our soft fruit crops. We believe this answers all the questions and concerns raised both by the Council and by the local community, which we have actively consulted. Most recently in May we had a successful farm open morning where we showed the plans and detail of the application to the many attendees, and organised farm tours for those who were interested to see soft fruit growing in action.

The planning application now amounts to several boxes of information, but much of the material can be viewed online at the Tonbridge and Malling Planning Portal: ref TM/08/03739/FL.

Below is an extract from the application, summarising the main points.

1.1. This application is submitted for planning permission for a sustainable development of polytunnels, comprising 74 hectares of successional  polytunnels and  the continued use of  91 hectares of rotational polytunnels on land farmed by Hugh Lowe Farms. 

1.2. This application is required following a recent determination that major developments of polytunnels fall within the definition of development and therefore planning permission is required.  However, it also follows that where polytunnels have been in place for more than 4 years, they are immune from enforcement action and therefore cannot be removed.  There are 33 hectares of polytunnels to which this applies.

1.3.  The purpose of this application is to regularise the existing situation at the farm and bring it under planning control. There will be no significant increase in the total hectares with tunnels. In any one calendar year, there will be a maximum of 165 hectares with polytunnels; within a total agricultural holding (including associated woodland) of 557 hectares. 

1.4. The farm has regularly used polytunnels since their introduction into the UK in 1988 and the records of the use of the land for this purpose are provided for the period since 1999. Tunnel use is now an established and necessary practice at the farm and one third of the area farmed has been cropped under tunnels since 2004. In that time some additional land has been rented and the area under tunnels in any one season has varied from 128ha in 2004 to 160ha in 2008.

1.5. Going into greater detail, a substantial part of each field, averaging 29% but varying from 16 – 60%, is not covered with tunnels due to soil conditions, shape, size and access. These uncropped field margins and field corners in the numerous small fields means that the actual area directly under tunnels in any one calendar year is less than 22% of the total land area, a very low proportion for a soft fruit farm.

1.6. The Design and Access Statement explains the background to and history of the farm, and provides details of the design of the tunnels and their likely locations.  A Management Plan detailing the use of the tunnels is a major part of this statement. This provides detailed information on the associated management of biodiversity, water, soils, waste and energy on the farm, with details of the practical management of tunnels and of the crops they protect.

1.7. A separate Flood Risk Assessment is attached. This assesses the risks and likelihood of flooding resulting from the proposals and sets out mitigating measures where appropriate, using methodology agreed with the Environment Agency.

1.8. A separate Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment has also been commissioned to inform this Design and Access Statement. It describes the landscape within the various parts of the farm, taking into account the historical features of the landscape, assesses the impact of tunnel use from key vantage points and sets out appropriate mitigation measures which are adopted in the Management Plan.     
                                                                                    
1.9. A separate Economic Report in two parts. The first sets out the contribution made by the farm to the local and national economy, and the jobs it sustains. The second details the production economics of producing soft fruit with and without tunnels, and analyses the economics of an alternative arable enterprise on the farm if soft fruit production were to cease.

1.10. A separate Planning Statement sets out the planning context with regard to existing planning guidance and policies.