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BALLACUNNER, SMEALE ROAD, ANDREAS.
The proposal is to construct an 18m x 12m steel-framed agricultural building, sited as shown on the application drawings.
Ballacunner has 7.5 acres of land together with another 4 acres leased. There will be 50 ewes lambing in the spring, together with 30 chickens. There are 3 poly tunnels for tomatoes, beetroot, carrots, onions, shallots, squashes, parsnips, etc., and 2 acres set aside for potatoes and other vegetables.
This will compliment 50 fruit trees already planted.
Approximately ½ an acre is set aside for 15 bee hives.
Plant and equipment includes a tractor, 2 rotavators, hedge trimmer, back hoe loader and dumper truck, together with smaller mechanical plant and equipment.
500 Manx native trees have been planted around the site and during the last 12 months, there has been considerable land improvement works, which included clearing out a pond to provide a natural habitat for the extensive wildlife within the area.
All produce grown and cultivated at Ballacunner is organic, and will supply local shops and the organic market at St. Johns, approximately 500 lb of honey is produced annually, again sold locally and Mr. Leach senior is an authority on bee-keeping, queen rearing, mormophetry, advising Sheffield University and continually improves the stock of bees through breeding practices and programmes.
The present farm buildings at Ballacunner are identified on the application drawings, as follows:
Building A – this is a ruinous building of low height, not suitable for livestock or feed storage, although part of the building was once used for habitable purposes in connection with the farmhouse.
Building B – this is a two-storey building of stone construction and is robust, and this will be used to provide feed and shelter for chickens and is of sufficient dimension to provide indoor housing in the event of avian flu.
Building C1 – this is a corrugated steel structure, very ruinous, probably built without Planning permission and offers no viable use and its present state and appearance is most undesirable and will be removed.
Building C2 – this is a fine, well-built, two-storey structure having natural stone walls and a slate roof. A later Planning application will address issues with this building and with minor alterations, the building could be suitable for tourist accommodation, but further discussion would be necessary with the Planning and Conservation Officers. The building however is unique, having stone walls made of slate, limestone, red sandstone and granite quoins and interestingly, some of the quoins are Dalbeattie granite from Scotland. All window and door openings are tiny and no longer are able to provide storage facilities for feed and equipment. The upper floor is redundant since feed and hay, for reasons of health and safety cannot be stored in restricted spaces due to airborne dust and lifting.
The ground floor is equally redundant, having restricted headroom and therefore, unsuitable for plant and equipment and fuel storage.
Building C3 – this is a corrugated leanto building, again probably built without Planning permission, is dilapidated, most unattractive and masks the visual attractiveness of building C2.
The proposed new agricultural building will be designed and laid out internally to accommodate the following:
In a sealed and hygienic part of the building, approximately 1/3rd will be dedicated to bee-keeping. There will be a hygienic jar storage area, which will accommodate a microscopic lab area and a computer for morphology with access to a further area for extraction, bottling, labelling and storage of honey together with washing facilities and low heat. This layout is according to the recommendations laid out by the British Bee-Keeping Association and Sheffield University.
1/3rd of the building is for implements storage with safe working between equipment.
Of the remaining 1/3rd of the building, this will be multi functional. A portion will be set aside for feed, delivered in 20 kg bags. A portion will be set aside for the housing of ewes for lambing in the spring.
During the winter there will be considerable work repairing old hives and assembling new hives. All hives are timber ‘national’ type and all are delivered unassembled and all need assembly on site. Empty hives cannot be stored outside and there is always the need to keep a multitude of spare parts to hand e.g. floors, roofs, brood boxes and combs.
There are also approximately 75 nucleus hives requiring winter storage used in summer for raising queen bees, as part of the Manx native bee breeding programme.
Lastly, and again largely seasonal there will be an area dedicated for the cleaning of vegetables ready for market and the storage of potatoes and other root crops.
In conclusion, this new building replaces the dilapidated and redundant buildings C1 and C3.
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