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Search the Public Notice PortalAn agricultural tie on a rural Herefordshire property must stay, even though no farmer has ever lived there.
Percival Smith of Field View, Gorsty near the village of Pembridge west of Leominster applied in May to have the agricultural occupancy condition that went with the original 2002 planning permission for the three-bedroom bungalow removed.
Having bought the property in 2020, “we would like the condition lifted so that, should we need care in later life, we can achieve full market value to assist us in funding such care”, his application said.
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Pembridge Parish Council “continued to object” to the bid, which “has appeared in various forms on several occasions”, most recently in 2019.
“When the property was built in open countryside it was only supported by the parish council on the basis it would remain a tied agricultural residence,” councillors said.
Field View was completed in 2004. A certificate of lawfulness granted in 2017 then rendered it immune from enforcement on this point, despite it having “never once been occupied” by anyone who met the farming condition.
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An unpublished supporting statement with Mr Smith’s bid said efforts to then sell the property on the open market fell through “on account of the occupancy condition remaining in place”, according to planning officer Matthew Neilson.
But he was unconvinced by this argument, saying the fact that Mr Smith had himself since bought the bungalow “demonstrates that it is capable of sale with the agricultural workers condition intact”.
Mr Smith had failed to show the house had been marketed “at a realistic price which reflects the agricultural occupancy restriction”, or that it was “surplus to the needs of the farm, or of other agricultural enterprises in the locality”, Mr Neilson concluded.
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The application to remove the agricultural occupancy condition was refused.
John Mallett, a neighbour of Mr Smith’s, meanwhile suggested that rather than block the removal of agricultural ties on rural properties in the county, the council “apply a cost of agreeing the removal of the tie as a percentage of any uplift in value”.
“This may deter people seeking the removal of ties and/or raise valuable income for the county,” he wrote.
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