I am quite stunned at this posting. Not that I don't believe you Davis, but it seems almost incredible. What a farce planning is!
Ian Cardinal aka Norman the Narrowboat > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > David Cragg > Sent: 05 March 2009 09:50 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [canals-list] When is an SSSI not an SSSI & How to start a factory farm > > Maesbury Marsh is a village near the end of the open section of the Montgomery Canal. It is > in the country and the canal section is an SSSI - or so we thought... > > A few years ago a lorry driving chap brought 25 acres of land right next to the village and > near the Canal Central Post Office. The land had no house but a barn and some sheds - the > farm house being sold off years ago. > > Shortly after buying the land the owner first (illegally) lived in a caravan on the land and > then, in an area where permissions are rarely given, was given permission to turn the barn > into a house. After this another planning application went in for a new barn and, in spite of > local opposition, the council officers and certain influential councillors bent over backwards > to push the application through. > > After the barn went up it quickly became clear that it was not for the few cattle in the fields > but for an intensive calf rearing operation. This involves food being lorried in and muck > being stored on site (400metres upwind of the village) then lorried away along the road. The > road is single track and extremely narrow with twists. It is mainly used by walkers and > cyclists (though according to the county council it is used only by lorries and few of them). > > The road crosses the canal near Canal Central PO on a bridge limited to 10 tons - though > loads of muck similar to the one that broke the bridge near Stenson been seen to go over this > bridge - a twin to the Stenson one. However most of the lorries go the other way along the > lane through a ford and over that massive bridge created in the restoration by Peate's mill. > (Be careful here and up the lane walking, visiting folks!) Although an estimate by the > applicant implied 2 lorries a week plus others (?) a two day few hour count saw 14 cross the > bridge - and that was before the latest application... > > This latest application is for another shed for calf rearing. This shed could take 600 though > the application implies only 150 on top of the 200 currently indoors on site. As before > certain councillors (now backed by farmers mostly not local) tried to bulldoze the > application through while the council officers (one of who advised on the application but is > not the one set to approve it) approved it in the face of local opposition. In fact some > councillors (at least one of which received calls to drop it) are now annoyed enough oppose > the application and to have forced a environmental assessment to be carried out. (A thing > the council officers maintain is needed for siting a caravan but not for cattle rearing with > muck per hundred cattle piling up at 4 tons per day. (A read of the www.factoryfarming.org > site will tell you about the environmental implications of this!)) > > In the midst of this lot it was pointed out that the canal corridor along here is an SSSI and > surely that should count for something. Well locals have always thought it was an SSSI and > any WRGies out there may remember that when they restored Aston locks in the 1990s BW > chained them up and used the threat of permanent refusal for future restoration by English > Nature who had made the canal below an SSSI as one of their clubs to beat the restorers into > compliance. > > When the SSSI status was raised the powers that be found that the Maesbury bit was made a > a rare plant etc., SSSI in the 1990s BUT in 2001 - when a BW eco restoration was begun at > massive cost on the Maesbury section English Nature waved a magic wand, all the rare > plants disappeared and the SSSI status was rescinded as far as Redwith. So - when is an > SSSI not an SSSI - when English Nature (now Natural England) say so. And, in this case it > was on/off at convenient times for certain parties... It seems not only our councillors > perform cartwheels when it suits them. > > So now you know - and if you fancy a bit of factory farming now you also know how to go > about it - from field to house to barn to bigger barn - and there is plenty of room for > expansion yet in those 25 acres. > > Incidentally the farm guy keeps his barns and land around flood-lite all night. Maybe he is > worried that those men in hoods will arrive and free his beasts - or maybe he just likes > annoying his neighbours. (Final note for visiting boaters - he has been reported to the police > for driving at people as he seems to think the local lane is his road private so watch out!) > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > ------------------------------------ > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > >
