'Green' smallholders' planning victory

The pair live a low carbon lifestyle in a double decker bus, selling ethically reared produce.
It was a long, hard slog for Zoe Wilson and Chris Webb’s venture, with major setbacks along the way.
But Her Majesty’s Planning Inspectorate finally sided with public opinion, citing the “clear and considerable measure of local support for the development...a material consideration to which I attribute significant weight.
Last May Ms Wilson won over West Berkshire Council’s western area planning committee with an impassioned address.
But planning officers referred the case up to the district planning committee - which, in July, overturned the prior decision in their favour.
They then launched their appeal.
For years previously, Ms Wilson and Mr Webb were forced to stay on the move in the Lambourn area until they bought a five acre paddock off the M4 near Membury Services.
They cleared the area of weeds and brambles and gradually established a smallholding from which they sell fresh produce and ethically reared meat to the surrounding community.
A mini wind turbine provides enough power to maintain the incubators and light the bus they call home.
Lambourn parish council spokesman Dr Peter Cox told planners that local residents “wholeheatedly support” the project.
Tony Vickers (Lib Dem, Nortchroft), who championed the venture throughout, said at the time: “We should support the transition to a low carbon future. It’s in the spirit of localism and the parish of Lambourn supports it wholeheartedly. – there’s not a single objection from local people. We would be doing the community and the planet a service.”
He said of the decision this week: “I’m very pleased, both for her and for the future of agriculture in this area. We need more of these highly sustainable types of smallholding and our policy needs to be updated to make it easier for everyone concerned.”
In his written decision notice, HM Planning Inspector Brian Cook also gave weight to the venture’s sustainable, low carbon ethos.
In a finely tuned balancing exercise between preserving the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the venture’s unique merits, he added: “I accept the force of the appellant’s argument that £10,000 (per annum) profit is more than sufficient for her lifestyle and needs and that she has lived on a lot less.”
He imposed conditions that the permission applies only to the couple and that “residence at the site persists only for the period that the smallholding functions as an agricultural unit.”
Ms Wilson said: “I would like to thank everyone that sent in letters of support. In the end this was the one thing that really made the difference.”