[eclipse6603]

Good day everyone and I hope you are all well and enjoying this wonderful weather.
 
As many of you may be aware our planning application for a total of 7 dedicated smallholdings with 10 community allotments on the edge of the village of Newarthill in North Lanarkshire, has now gone to the Scottish Ministers.  The main reason for refuasl by NLC has been their insistance that each smallholding is purley for a big house and large garden despite us requesting them to agree to sepcific planning conditions including that the land be used specifically for growing food, fodder and livestock   Their other complaint is that each smallholding does now create a single full time job in agriculture, which is not what smallholding is all about - or am I just missing something here 
 
Anyone who supports the requirements for additional smallholding applications should write before 4 August 2013 to the following address and detailing the reference numbers below:
 
Directorate for Planning & Environmental Appeals,
4 The Courtyard,
Callendar Business Park,
Falkirk,
FK1 1XR
 
Application references:  12/00407/PPP & 12/00408/PPP
Appeal references:          PPA-320-2062 & PPA-320-2061
 
PLANNING PERMISSION APPEAL : CASE REFERENCE - PPA-320-2062 : SITE 1, MOSSHALL STREET, NEWARTHILL, MOTHERWELL, NORTH LANARKSHIRE

PLANNING PERMISSION APPEAL : CASE REFERENCE - PPA-320-2061 : SITE 2, MOSSHALL STREET, NEWARTHILL, MOTHERWELL, NORTH LANARKSHIRE
 
This is it everyone, we now have the opportunity to create 7 dedicated smallholdings each with a self build dwelling and 10 community use allotments.  This creates an opportunity to change the planning system in North Lanarkshire but more importantly for every smallholder in Scotland moving forward through the planning process within the Scottish Government. 
 
Let's all work together to get a growning and healthier self-sustainable food plan and lifestyle on the map.
 
Thanks everyone for your ongoing support - you don't know how much this means to us.
 
We'll keep you all updated once we have any further news.  Fingers X'd. 
 
Lyn

[Lesley Silvester]

Chewed finger nail time. Hope it goes well.

[ferretkeeper]

Hi Eclipse

It seems that nothing outside the norm can be justified by planners unless it creates employment - it seems harsh to expect a full time job to be created especially as they will use large scale agricultural 'man hours' to judge you by and they just don't work for smallholders or any non intensive farmers.

I thought I'd heard somewhere, a case here in Wales perhaps, that they only needed to create a part time job/percentage of income from the smallholding in order to gain permission for the dwelling. Also the dwelling had to be super eco, but that's a given really.

Sorry I can't think of any specific info to help your case, it's bound to have been somewhere on a permaculture website or similar...

Good luck to you 

[Rosemary]

Lyn, just explain how these properties will be prevented from becoming equestrian properties.

[eclipse6603]

Hi All,

A combination of planning conditions (or a Section 75 Agreement) as proposed by us, would achieve this aim. The model has been tried and tested by Dumfries and Galloway Council who recently revised their supplementary guidance on smallholdings in order to prevent abuse

The wording of a recent Section 75 Agreement for a smallholding in the Dumfries and Galloway area included a requirement for the house and the unit to be occupied as a single unit and no part of the Subjects shall be sold, let, occupied, let, sub-let or otherwise alienated from the remainder of the Subjects

The Section 75 Agreement went on to require that The Subjects shall be used at all times for the purposes of agriculture (either commercially or as a hobby) by or on behalf of the occupier of the dwellinghouse on the Subjects.

For the purposes of the Section 75 Agreement, ˇ§agriculturalˇ¨ and ˇ§horticultureˇ¨ are as defined in Section 277(1) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997.

It would therefore be possible to use a Section 75 Agreement or a combination of planning conditions  to:-

1.  To tie the proposed farming/horticultural land to the house on each plot;
2.  Ensure that the plot wasnˇ¦t subdivided;
3.  Control the occupancy of the house on each plot to ensure they remain lived in by families or individuals carrying out hobby farming;
4.  Require submission of an agricultural business plan;
5.  To control the use of the smallholdings and ensure they remain true to the initial proposal;
6.  Ensure land is set aside for allotments;
7.  Control the type of small business use or activities carried on to supplement income from hobby farming.

The Scottish Government however recently requested planning authorities restrict themselves from using Section 75 Agreements wherever possible, when the necessary restrictions can be achieved effectively and sufficiently through planning conditions.

Regards

Lyn

[Still playing with tractors]

Hi everyone,

Another update, the Scottish Government planners have asked for a site visit next week to put into visual perspective, what we see as our vision for what we are trying to achieve 

Finger's X'd and I'll let you all know how it goes.

Lyn
 

[Rosemary]

  I'll come and cut the ribbon once the site is ready to open