LA farms out
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0-licence
AN OBJECTION by North Shropshire District Council to the grant of a new 0-licence to a farmer on the grounds that planning permission had not been granted for use of the premises for haulage purposes, was a mistaken one.
This was said by the West Midland Licensing Authority, Mr A A. Crabtree, at Birmingham on April 14, when he granted the application by Phillip Roy Kynaston, Bankhouse Farm, Tilstock Park, Whitchurch, for two vehicles to be specified.
Mr Kynaston said that the vehicles would be used for his farming activities and for the carriage of straw from the eastern counties. About 25 per cent of the straw would be for his own farm and the remainder would be sold and delivered to farmers in Shropshire and Wales.
A DoE vehicle examiner, who had visited the premises, said the vehicles were in good condition and the workshops facilities and equipment adequate. There was sufficient accommodation for six vehicles.
On behalf of the council, Mr T. I. Edwards, planning enforcement officer, said the applicant was granted planning permission in 1970 for development for agricultural purposes.
Use for a haulage depot was not envisaged and permission for this was unlikely to be granted.
The LA said that vehicles used in connection with the farm business would not require planning permission; in any event they were to be used for agricultural purposes.
Mr Edwards replied that while the business described was agricultural, it was not farming. The premises were being used as a haulage depot and the main business appeared to be that of an agricultural contractor.
Mr R. S. C. Owens, for the council, submitted that the transport of straw was not, in the main, in relation to Mr Kynaston's own farm. The vehicles were clearly being used for haulage purposes under the guise of farming.
The LA said he believed the council was drawing too fine a distinction, Mr Kynaston was a farmer carrying for himself and for other farmers. If he thought an entry was being sought into road haulage the application would have been refused. If it transpired that, in the future, the nature of the business changed, consideration would be given to revocation of the licence.