Herefordshire home's agricultural occupation clause breached

A Herefordshire house built 30 years ago on condition it housed a farm worker has for the last 15 years been lived in by non-farming residents, it has been claimed.

Permission for the two-storey Highbury, at the Luce farm, Steen’s Bridge (or Steensbridge) by the A44 east of Leominster, was granted in 1993 on condition its “occupation shall be limited to persons employed or last employed in agriculture or forestry, or their dependents”.

But according to a new application (number 241567) for a certificate of lawfulness by its owner Ann Wynne, though initially occupied by her farming parents, the property was then let out to tenants following her father’s death in 2009.

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For 15 years, “the occupants of Highbury have never been solely or mainly employed in agriculture”, a letter with the application says.

A statutory declaration by Mrs Wynne to this effect, listing the non-agricultural occupations of the property’s several tenants, accompanies the application.

As the breach of the planning condition has occurred continuously for over 10 years, meaning by law no action can now be taken to enforce it, the letter explains – and it asks for Herefordshire Council as planning authority to acknowledge this.

Comments on the application can be made until July 24.