Planning Statement

Planning Statement In Support Of An Application In Principle For A Farm Worker’S Dwelling, Bay View Farm, Ballamodha, Malew

Sarah Corlett Town Planning Consultancy Ltd 1 Registered address: Ballachrink Croft, Ballacorey Road, Bride, Isle of Man IM7 4AW t: 07624 485517 e: [email protected] w: www.sarahcorlett.com Directors: Sarah Elizabeth Corlett Nicola Jane Corlett

Company Registration 134325C

• 1.0 INTRODUCTION
• 1.1 Bay View Farm is a holding of approximately 20 acres which lie on the western side of the A3 Ballamodha Straight between Corlea Road to the north and Wigan Lane and Bayrauyr to the south.
• 1.2 The site is accessed by an existing opening onto the A3 which sits immediately to the north of an existing dwelling, Bay View which is not, and has never been in the applicant’s ownership. This property was the dwelling from where the original farm was managed. However the farm was taken over by the former farm manager, the current applicant, who obtained planning approval for another dwelling on the site. This dwelling sits to the west of the farm building group and accessed via a farm lane which skirts around the northern side of the building group.
• 1.3 The farm buildings, farm house and Bay View sit opposite Springwaters, a detached house with large agricultural building to the north. To the south of this is a collection of dwellings and outbuildings and to the north is the former Ballaglea Farm which now has the original farmhouse and a barn on the western side of the road and in separate ownership, the farm buildings on the eastern side.
• 1.4 The landscape is generally open and sloping downward from north to south with most buildings grouped close to the A3 on both sides.
• 1.5 To the north of Bay View Farm is Corlea Road (B39). There are a number of dwellings along this road on both sides. Ballaglea House is the closest dwelling to the application site and sits approximately 180m to the north of the proposed development. The residential curtilage of Ballaglea House abuts the northern boundary of Bay View Farm.
• 1.6 Bay View Farm is now owned and managed by the applicant who lives on site. There are currently around 1,000 head of pigs on site which remains fairly consistent throughout the year. As stock is taken to market or for slaughter, more are born - around 30-40 each week. This holding currently produces more than 80% of the Island’s pork.

Sarah Corlett Town Planning Consultancy Ltd 2 Registered address: Ballachrink Croft, Ballacorey Road, Bride, Isle of Man IM7 4AW t: 07624 485517 e: [email protected] w: www.sarahcorlett.com Directors: Sarah Elizabeth Corlett Nicola Jane Corlett

Company Registration 134325C

• 2.0 PLANNING POLICY
• 2.1 The site lies in an area not designated for a particular purpose on the Area Plan for the South (2013). There are no Constraints shown on the accompanying map.
• 2.2 There are no identified constraints applicable to this site on the Island Environment map which identifies areas of ecological protection, Registered Trees, footpaths, Conservation Areas and Registered Buildings.
• 2.3 Development is directed towards sustainable locations and to existing settlements (Strategic Policies 1, 2 and 10, Spatial Policy 5, Housing Policy 4 and Transport Policy 1).
• 2.4 There will therefore be a presumption against development here as set out in General Policy 3. This provides exceptions to this general presumption, including

(f) building and engineering operations which are essential for the conduct of agriculture or forestry.

• 2.5 Environment Policy 15 and Housing Policies 7, 8, 9 and 10 provide further advice on the development of new agricultural buildings:

Environment Policy 15: Where the Department is satisfied that there is agricultural or horticultural need for a new building (including a dwelling), sufficient to outweigh the general policy against development in the countryside, and that the impact of this development including buildings, accesses, servicing etc. is acceptable, such development must be sited as close as is practically possible to existing building groups and be appropriate in terms of scale, materials, colour, siting and form to ensure that all new developments are sympathetic to the landscape and built environment of which they will form a part.

Only in exceptional circumstances will buildings be permitted in exposed or isolated areas or close to public highways and in all such cases will be subject to appropriate landscaping. The nature and materials of construction must also be appropriate to the purposes for which it is intended.

Where new agricultural buildings are proposed next to or close to existing residential properties, care must be taken to ensure that there is no unacceptable adverse impact

Sarah Corlett Town Planning Consultancy Ltd 3 Registered address: Ballachrink Croft, Ballacorey Road, Bride, Isle of Man IM7 4AW t: 07624 485517 e: [email protected] w: www.sarahcorlett.com Directors: Sarah Elizabeth Corlett Nicola Jane Corlett

Company Registration 134325C

through any activity, although it must be borne in mind that many farming activities require buildings which are best sited, in landscape terms, close to existing building groups in the rural landscape.

• Housing Policy 7: New agricultural dwellings will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances where real agricultural need is demonstrated.
• Housing Policy 8: Where permission is granted for an agricultural dwelling, a condition will be attached restricting the occupation to a person engaged or last engaged solely in agriculture; or a widow or widower of such a person, or any resident dependants.
• Housing Policy 9: Where permission is granted for an agricultural dwelling, the dwelling must be sited such that;

• (a) it is within or immediately adjoining the main group of farm buildings or a group of farm buildings associated with that farm,
• (b) it is well set back from any public highway, and
• (c) it is approached via the existing farm access.

• Housing Policy 10: Where permission is granted for an agricultural dwelling, the dwelling should normally be designed in accordance with policies 1- 7 of present Planning Circular 3/91 which will be revised and issued as a Planning Policy Statement.

• 2.6 The countryside is protected from unsympathetic development (Environment Policy 3) and ecology is also protected (Environment Policy 4).
• 2.7 Development is expected to have a positive impact on the landscape (Strategic Policies 4 and 5).
• 2.8 Development is required to have an acceptable impact on highway safety and traffic (Transport Policies 4 and 7) including satisfactory car parking provision. Two car parking spaces are to be provided for each dwelling with two or more bedrooms.

Sarah Corlett Town Planning Consultancy Ltd 4 Registered address: Ballachrink Croft, Ballacorey Road, Bride, Isle of Man IM7 4AW t: 07624 485517 e: [email protected] w: www.sarahcorlett.com Directors: Sarah Elizabeth Corlett Nicola Jane Corlett

Company Registration 134325C

2.9 General Policy 2 sets out conditions with which development is expected to comply, some of which are also the subject of separate policies, such as those above.

Sarah Corlett Town Planning Consultancy Ltd 5 Registered address: Ballachrink Croft, Ballacorey Road, Bride, Isle of Man IM7 4AW t: 07624 485517 e: [email protected] w: www.sarahcorlett.com Directors: Sarah Elizabeth Corlett Nicola Jane Corlett

Company Registration 134325C

• 3.0 THE PROPOSAL
• 3.1 Proposed is the principle of a new dwelling to be sited in the field to the north of the existing farm dwelling - field 435200. All other details are to be reserved for further approval including the curtilage of the proposed dwelling, should the principle be accepted.
• 3.2 The dwelling would be occupied by a farm worker involved in the running of Bay View Farm.
• 3.3 The work involved in this pig unit includes:

• • Full breeding to finishing pig production.
• • Including feeding twice a day
• • Mucking out daily.
• • Bedding up daily.
• • Pressure washing after every batch to a meticulous standard to protect our antibiotic free status.
• • Mating daily.
• • Assisting births daily.
• • Weaning weekly.
• • Weighing for market weekly.
• • Constant maintenance of an ageing farm.
• • Millingl/mixing 12tonne of food weekly.

• 3.4 The applicant has recently been asked by Isle of Man Meats if production could be increased to try and enable them to fulfil new on Island markets. Attached is correspondence from IOMM demonstrating the relationship which the applicant has with them.
• 3.5 Currently the farm is managed and supported by the applicant who lives on site, his daughter who lives in Port Grenaugh and a part time farm worker who lives in Orrisdale.

3.7 There is no particular season for pigs to breed and can give birth at all and any time or day of the year and as some of these need assisting someone needs to be around all the time. Many gilts who are unfamiliar with the farrowing process can occasionally be aggressive and some can end up intentionally or accidentally killing their piglets through fright, ignorance or pain. It is therefore essential during farrowing that there are farm workers

Sarah Corlett Town Planning Consultancy Ltd 6 Registered address: Ballachrink Croft, Ballacorey Road, Bride, Isle of Man IM7 4AW t: 07624 485517 e: [email protected] w: www.sarahcorlett.com Directors: Sarah Elizabeth Corlett Nicola Jane Corlett

Company Registration 134325C

available to ensure that the process goes as incident free as possible, in the interests of the animals and the farm productivity.

• 3.8 The existing buildings on the farm due to their age, don’t have automatic ventilation, meaning someone needs to be around to control this, especially with the extreme weather which the Island is experiencing when one minute they could be uncomfortably warm and the next minute uncomfortably cold, if not acted upon. The temperature of the accommodation needs careful on site management.
• 3.9 The mill has to be worked around the clock to make sufficient food, again requiring someone on site to do this.
• 3.10 At present, as there is only one house on the holding, if the applicant wishes or needs to take time away, there is no-one living on site to undertake the duties listed above. The applicant has considered trying to acquire an additional property in the vicinity but none is available that would be affordable by the business either for rent or purchase.
• 3.11 The applicant is approaching retirement where he will step back from taking full responsibility for the business and his daughter will assume this role. It is not economically possible for her to purchase the business and the applicant cannot afford to purchase a new dwelling without selling the business and as such the applicant’s daughter will assume the responsibility of the running of the farm through familial succession, as is the case with most Manx farms. As such, if the new farm manager lives in the existing farm dwelling, the applicant will have nowhere to live and no sale proceeds with which to acquire or rent another property. He is likely to continue to have an involvement in the operation of the farm, but decreasing responsibility and involvement as years go on.

Sarah Corlett Town Planning Consultancy Ltd 7 Registered address: Ballachrink Croft, Ballacorey Road, Bride, Isle of Man IM7 4AW t: 07624 485517 e: [email protected] w: www.sarahcorlett.com Directors: Sarah Elizabeth Corlett Nicola Jane Corlett

Company Registration 134325C

• 4.0 PLANNING HISTORY
• 4.1 The existing farm dwelling in which the applicant lives, was permitted under 06/00495/B and 06/01971/B . These followed an earlier application for two dwellings.
• 4.2 That application, 05/92312/B, was submitted by the current applicant when he was the tenant of the farm. The defined site at that time excluded Bay View but this was known to be owned by the person who owned the farm. The Planning Officer notes “Whilst the existing dwelling outside, but alongside the site is not part of the defined site, this property is in the ownership of the person who owns the farm and is as such technically available for occupation in conjunction with the farm.”
• 4.3 The report goes on:

“There is submitted with the application a letter from Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry which outlines the man hour requirement for the operations on the farm. The new owner of the farm has commenced a series of improvements to the farm including the removal of an existing stinking silage lagoon and its replacement with effective drainage and a sewage silo and the replacement of two existing poor quality sheds with new, properly ventilated and lit shed for the pigs. He is also intending to build a plant maintenance building alongside an existing portal framed shed to the north of the farm group.

The letter from the Agricultural Adviser states that the operation of 250 breeding sows would justify a total of 9,628 man hours which supports a labour requirement of 4.93 units - ie. 4, almost 5, full-time workers. In addition the letter suggests that on grounds of animal welfare there is a need to have available 24 hour care and supervision as there are farrowing sows on the farm all year round (the gestation period is 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days - each sow having 2 litters per year).

The applicant also wishes to have on-site security to prevent theft of materials and stock. The siting of the two dwellings is aimed to prevent theft by introducing new dwellings at each end of the site where access is possible.

The applicant states that the site presently provide 33% of the Island's pork production.

Sarah Corlett Town Planning Consultancy Ltd 8 Registered address: Ballachrink Croft, Ballacorey Road, Bride, Isle of Man IM7 4AW t: 07624 485517 e: [email protected] w: www.sarahcorlett.com Directors: Sarah Elizabeth Corlett Nicola Jane Corlett

Company Registration 134325C

• 4.4 The officer was satisfied that two dwellings were justified here but was concerned at the size of the proposed properties and the application was referred to the planning committee. The Committee was not satisfied that as the existing dwelling, Bay View, was still in the ownership of the person who owned the farm, that this should be included in the calculation of need for the running of the farm and as such, whilst one new dwelling was acceptable, two were not. The application was refused for the following reasons:

• 1. Whilst the Planning Committee accepts that there is a need in agricultural terms for two dwellings to facilitate the proper and acceptable operation of the pig farm as proposed, it does not accept that there is a need for two additional dwellings, since there is at the farm an existing dwelling which has previously been used in association therewith; one of the proposed dwellings would therefore constitute an unwarranted new dwelling in the countryside, contrary to the Department's general policies in this respect.
• 2. In any case, the proposed dwellings are significantly larger in terms of floor space than is recommended in Planning Circular 3/91 - Guide to the Design of Residential Development in the Countryside, Polices 2-7 inclusive; whilst the Committee accepts that personal circumstances justify this larger size for one of the dwellings, it does not accept that this is so for the other; one of the dwellings would thus be contrary to the Department's policies in respect of new dwelling in the countryside; this additional size may render the dwelling unaffordable by a future farm-worker, and so affect its availability for its intended purpose.

• 4.5 There have also been applications for various agricultural buildings and two wind turbines - all permitted. The turbines have been in situ for some time.

Sarah Corlett Town Planning Consultancy Ltd 9 Registered address: Ballachrink Croft, Ballacorey Road, Bride, Isle of Man IM7 4AW t: 07624 485517 e: [email protected] w: www.sarahcorlett.com Directors: Sarah Elizabeth Corlett Nicola Jane Corlett

Company Registration 134325C

• 5.0 PLANNING ASSESSMENT
• 5.1 Whilst development is generally discouraged in the countryside, there are provisions for development which is justified in agricultural terms. This site is an established and successful pig unit which has expanded from the numbers which were experienced when the agricultural workers’ dwellings were proposed in 2005, from 250 head to around 1,000 head. The contribution to the Manx pork industry has risen from 33% to currently over 80% with an indication from Isle of Man Meats that they would like to see production increased.
• 5.2 The information provided in 2005 demonstrated to the satisfaction of the then Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture that two agricultural dwellings were needed for the operation at that time. In fact the information provided by the Agriculture Division indicated that the unit had a labour requirement of almost 5 full time workers. Preapplication discussions with the Agricultural Office of Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture confirmed that they would be supportive of an application for a new dwelling should it be demonstrated that the house is essential and that the holding is viable agricultural unit. The correspondence from IOMM demonstrates the latter as well as the quality of the operation and we would also request that the Agricultural Office of the Department is consulted as an independent consultee as part of the determination of this application.
• 5.3 The holding has increased in stock since then with effectively a decrease in available dwellings as the farm was acquired by the applicant and Bay View is no longer associated with the farm holding.
• 5.4 It is our case that not only is the need for an additional farm dwelling on site still apparent, with the applicant’s future retirement from the business, that the need for a second on site permanent farm dwelling is all the more necessary. Even without the applicant’s retirement, there is no facility for him to go on holiday, be in hospital or otherwise not be available on the holding should the need or desire arise due to the day to day need for someone to be on hand to manage the stock.
• 5.5 The planning policies support agriculturally justified development in certain circumstances. We would submit that a second agricultural dwelling is essential here for the continued operation of this important pig unit which provides the vast majority of pork to the local market (Environment Policy 15, Housing Policy 7). In addition, the existing business utilises around 600t annually of wheat and barley for feed. The amount of this local crop

Sarah Corlett Town Planning Consultancy Ltd 10 Registered address: Ballachrink Croft, Ballacorey Road, Bride, Isle of Man IM7 4AW t: 07624 485517 e: [email protected] w: www.sarahcorlett.com Directors: Sarah Elizabeth Corlett Nicola Jane Corlett

Company Registration 134325C

used will increase if the business can continue to expand. If the business is not able to continue then this amount of local crop will remain unused by this farm.

• 5.6 The dwelling will be accessed via the existing farm lane, will be adjacent to the existing farm dwelling and is neither exposed or isolated (Environment Policy 15 and Housing Policy 7). It is well set back from the public highway and could be designed to accord with the principles of Planning Circular 3/91 should this be required (Housing Policies 9 and 10). It is fully expected that a condition restricting the occupancy of the new property to someone who is engaged or last engaged solely in agriculture; or a widow or widower of such a person, or any resident dependants (Housing Policy 8).
• 5.7 The dwelling would be suitably designed and would sit amongst the existing buildings in the landscape so as to have an acceptable impact on the countryside (Environment Policy 1 and Strategic Policies 4 and 5).
• 5.8 The proposed dwelling will be some distance from any other residential property and would be provided with the required car parking spaces. The additional dwelling would not increase traffic using the farm lane or access as those living in the dwellings would ordinarily be on site every day in any case. On site accommodation for the applicant’s daughter might reduce traffic here.
• 5.9 We believe that the proposed development satisfies all of the relevant planning policies and would enable the future continuation and security of this important farm holding.

Sarah Corlett 04.02.26

Sarah Corlett Town Planning Consultancy Ltd 11 Registered address: Ballachrink Croft, Ballacorey Road, Bride, Isle of Man IM7 4AW t: 07624 485517 e: [email protected] w: www.sarahcorlett.com Directors: Sarah Elizabeth Corlett Nicola Jane Corlett

Company Registration 134325C

Appendix One

Correspondence from Isle of Man Meats

From: Michael Barker <[email protected]> Date: 12 January 2026 at 12:19:10 GMT To: [email protected] Subject: IOM Meat Plant

Dear Shaun, Our vision for your pork on island is to create a premium brand for the domestic and overseas market. Showcasing the Islands Biosphere status and also your care and attention giving to the husbandry of your animals. We are committed to serving the Islands agriculture producers like yourself by offering a high class processing facility that takes in animals every week of the year, and offering a weekly base price dictated by AHDB in the UK. Which gives a fair price to the producers and also a fair price for the meat plant to sell on the processed product in to the wider market. There should be a higher rate on the UK base price for your pigs, once we get to the stage of packaging and selling your pork within the premium market.

Sarah Corlett Town Planning Consultancy Ltd 12 Registered address: Ballachrink Croft, Ballacorey Road, Bride, Isle of Man IM7 4AW t: 07624 485517 e: [email protected] w: www.sarahcorlett.com Directors: Sarah Elizabeth Corlett Nicola Jane Corlett

Company Registration 134325C

Sarah Corlett Town Planning Consultancy Ltd 13 Registered address: Ballachrink Croft, Ballacorey Road, Bride, Isle of Man IM7 4AW t: 07624 485517 e: [email protected] w: www.sarahcorlett.com Directors: Sarah Elizabeth Corlett Nicola Jane Corlett

Company Registration 134325C