A CONTROVERSIAL plan to cover 69 acres of rural land in polytunnels is to go to a three-day appeal hearing next month.

More than 550 objections were received by county planners when crisp and gin-making farmer Mark Green submitted plans for fields at Biddlestone Farm, Llangarron, in September 2017.

The scheme required seven separate planning applications, covering the polytunnels, a new driveway onto the A4137, three “balancing ponds” for water runoff, mobile homes and other facilities for seasonal workers, plus a farm building, pump house and loading dock.

The eight-metre-wide, 4.75-metre-high fixed tunnels would have housed table-top structures for growing soft fruit, presumed to be strawberries.

Originally there were to be 120 two-person accommodation pods, housing up to 240 workers, alongside “welfare” pods, but the plans were later revised to say that most workers would be bussed in daily.

Two Farmers Crisps and Gun Dog Gin producer Mr Green, of Ditton Farm, St Owen’s Cross, said the scheme would build on the historical legacy of orchards and fruit growing at the site.

A report said the plans were “part of a comprehensive project to re-establish a fruit-growing enterprise at the former Biddlestone Orchards, to be known in future as Biddlestone Farm…

“In its scale, in its sophistication and in the level of new investment and development, this is, essentially, a new horticultural undertaking.

“However, it builds directly upon the legacy of the farming enterprise previously undertaken on the site.

“Thus, for nearly 70 years from 1939, Biddlestone Orchards was operated as a fruit-growing business by the Oakeley Family.

“It specialised in top-quality dessert fruit, including strawberries, raspberries, cherries, apples and pears.”

Mr Green’s recent ventures include the eco-friendly Two Farmers Crisps, which was visited by King Charles when Prince of Wales three years ago, has been featured on TV shows and won the exclusive crisp contract to this year’s Glastonbury Festival.

But rejecting the fruit farm application last year, Herefordshire planners ruled: “This submission has not demonstrated that the development as a whole will not harm the visual amenity and landscape character, not just from the proposed polytunnels but the associated necessary developments.”

Other factors included that the water management and drainage could harm the River Wye special area of conservation and increase the risk of local flooding, while the road access was potentially unsafe.

Among the objections, Bolstone & Hentland Group Parish Council raised concerns about the likely increase in traffic at St Owens Cross, “a known accident black spot on the very busy A4137”, which councillors were told was “number four in the top 10 of Britain’s most dangerous roads”.

Nearly 600 residents and organisations objected to the fruit farm bid, including the Campaign to Protect Rural England and Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club (WNFC), alongside five parish councils.

A planning report said objectors claimed it was of “industrial proportions and will be highly visible from many miles away”.

David Whitehead of WNFC said the mass production of strawberries in polytunnels covering up to 12 fields would have a “considerable negative impact” on a large area of the countryside.

“Surely we must be close to saturation point for tunnel-forced strawberries, whereas a diverse and well-managed orchard has value to the community,” he claimed.

But a letter of appeal to the planning inspector says landscaping mitigation measures it proposed would not only address the visual amenity but also bring biodiversity improvements.

The effect of the water management and drainage systems would “be neutral and will potentially result in a net improvement” to the SAC, and would “mitigate flood risk”, the submission says, and contends there was no increased risk to road safety either.

A three-day hearing has now been set for November 8-10 at Herefordshire Council’s Plough Lane headquarters from 10am each day, under a Government-appointed inspector.

Anyone wishing to attend in person must let the council know by email on [email protected] by October 17.

The hearing can be observed, but not contributed to, via Microsoft Teams, for which pre-registration is also required.