Planning Application for change of use to mixed use Dog Day Care and Agricultural in Upper Bourne End Lane (4/00816/16/FUL)

Those of you who walk along Upper Bourne End Lane will be aware of the actual use of the dog day care centre in conjunction with the agricultural barn.  The impact, both visual and noise on this agricultural area by the dog care activity has increased.  There is now an application in for this.  On reading it, one would suppose that it would involve improvement to this area of Green Belt land. Unfortunately, it is not as simple as this.

In March 2014 the council granted planning consent for an outdoor dog day care centre (4/01997/13/FUL). At the time of the application there were no buildings on the site.  Conditions were attached to avoid damaging the openness of the Green Belt and breaching the Dacorum’s Core Strategy.  These conditions included no further buildings and no more than two vehicles on the site. There followed an application to revert all of the land to agricultural use and on this basis an agricultural barn (heated and with services) has been erected to be used entirely for agriculture. Agricultural use would have allowed certain other uses (such as outdoor dog day care use) for up to 26 times per year.

As you will be aware, the outdoor dog day care centre involves the almost daily use of six vans and other vehicles parked on the site, together with a very large number of dogs.

The current application is for both agricultural use and dog day care centre use together.  This would involve;

·          using the barn for the dogs,

·          using dog-proof fencing for a number of areas within the site,

·          creating a large area of hard standing around the barn. (This area is more than twice the size of the barn),

·          erecting up to four very large shelters in excess of 25sq metres each and up to 3.5 metres high for dogs.

There is every indication from the application that the number of dogs and vehicles on site would increase.

Many of the improvements cited in the application are those that should already have been carried out as a result of permissions granted.

This application is (deliberately) very complicated.  In essence however, we believe that what is there now and what is proposed does not comply with the openness of Green Belt or Dacorum’s Core Strategy.  Indeed, Dacorum issued an article 4 direction in 2011 on this entire area to preserve its openness. 

We are therefore opposing this plan.  We urge as many people in the village to write in to oppose. 

We should remember that here are a further six plots as part of the original field with the potential for similar development if this application goes through.   

If you wish to discuss the matter further, please give Mike Pritchard a call.