New Hay Barn Approved At Isle Of Wight Farm Following Revised Plans

A new hay barn will be built at an Isle of Wight farm with rare breed animals after a previous proposal was refused due to visual impact concerns.

The Isle of Wight Council has granted Richard Salter prior approval for a 20m long structure with three walls and a green roof, screened by hedge planting, on land inside the Isle of Wight National Landscape (IWNL) at Oaklea Dairy, near Alverstone.

County Hall rejected a previous barn proposal from Mr Salter at the beginning of November, citing a ‘detrimental’ impact on the protected area’s character.

Its decision report for the latest application 25/01690/6PA said:

“With a sufficient landscaping scheme of native species, officers are satisfied that any views of the relatively small-scale barn would not be detrimental to the designated landscape.”

A letter from IWNL said the barn was not considered to be in the most sympathetic location and flagged an ‘undesirable impact’ upon the landscape.

It said:

“The IWNL are also concerned at the potential use of the barn into the future, with the site currently being used as petting attraction and whether this requires planning consent.

“A barn for use as part of this attraction would not be visually acceptable or justified in this location.”

A submitted planning statement from rural property consultant John Woolley said:

“In addition to the 400 head of commercial cattle, over the last few years Mr Salter, in association with Ms Walls, have built up a small flock of rare breed sheep and goats, and a small number of rare breed cattle, as part of a farm diversification project.

“The rare breed animals eat predominantly hay as supplementary feed, rather than silage.

"They are also not housed in Mr Salter’s main cattle sheds.

"They are outwintered.

“Mr Salter would like to put up a small agricultural barn to store the hay required to feed these animals, and to store some items needed for their welfare, closer to their location e.g. feed bins, shearing implements, some straw bales certain times of the year etc.”

The document said that it is important for the profitability of Mr Salter’s business that he does not lose a significant amount of hay to the elements each year.