Mr G Dunhill, Environment Director,

Herefordshire Council,

Brockington,

35 Hafod Road,

Hereford. HR1 1SH                                                            5^th April 2006

Dear Mr. Dunhill,

As you are aware many of the polytunnels at Brierley Court were installed commencing November 2003 and have now been in place on approx. 150 acres of land for over two years. Can you confirm that in accordance with the Herefordshire code of practice that either you have requested the grower to apply (or they have applied) for Planning Permission for the continued use of the polytunnels at Brierley Court Farm?

You may recall that from the recent Planning Inspector's report (July 2005) in support of enforcement the following was reported at section 5.9.

‘A two-year use of polytunnels in accordance with the current Code would not require planning permission. On Brierley Court Farm this expires in November of this year (2005). The Appellant intends to retain them until August 2006 and hence include the bulk of three years’ crop. This would have a degree of permanence sufficient to require planning permission (Skerritts of Nottingham Ltd v Secretarv of State for the Environment. Transport and the Regions [2002] 2 P. L. R. 102, CA).’

Separately AVRA has noted in the Enforcement Notice issued by Hereford District Council concerning land at Pennoxstone Court, Kings Caple that you have specified:

"Under Breach of Planning Control: Without planning permission, the erection of polytunnels for the protection of soft fruit on the land " and "The erection of polytunnels constitutes operational development. This requires the benefit of planning permission" This clear statement from the council concerning planning permission is equally true for Brierley Court Farm and AVRA expects it to be applied. Indeed, it is the only practical method of avoiding repeated requests from the growers for ‘Certificates of Lawfulness’ (eg Haygrove) that circumvent planning control and European Environment legislation.

AVRA appreciates that there are some fields of polytunnels at Brierley Court Farm that were installed later than 2003 but undoubtedly you have knowledge of the precise dates and acreages. Could you inform AVRA if the grower has submitted a planning application for the polytunnels in question and if not will the council be taking enforcement action?

I look forward to receiving an early response hopefully within the next 28 days since AVRA may wish to consider what further action can be taken in this matter. This request will be placed in the public domain through our website in due course. Thank you for you help.

Yours sincerely,

Chairman

AVRA