A PLANNING application which has been put forward for the building of a cow shed at a farm in the county has been met with resistance from a neighbour in the area.

The application has been put forward by Icke Partners Limited for a building to house cows at Wheatlands Farm in Drakes Broughton, Pershore.

The building would will be of a portal frame and will have 150mm x 25mm sawn timber vertical timbers with 50mm spaces between.

Attached on the planning application, which can be accessed on the Wychavon District Council website, includes comments from Mr Skillern, one of the neighbours.

He said: “To increase the size of this farm any further is crazy, it is sited in the wrong place, all vehicles accessing the farm have to go through a residential area along Walcot Lane and Stonebow Road with Walcot lane to narrow for the size of vehicles using the farm.

“When there are vans, lorries or other delivery vehicles parked in Walcot Lane the tractor has to mount the curb which damages the grass verge, this happens every year.

"Large tankers full of slurry travel out via Walcot lane and Stonebow Road and the slurry is deposited on surrounding fields as far as the Worcester boundary, the smell from this is often very strong.

"Then there are the lorry loads of straw which are tall and hit over hanging branches causing straw to be deposited on both lanes and people's drives.

“If the farm is allowed to develop further all of the above problems will increase and I along with other residents have had enough.

“ Farms of this size should be sited within easy access to main roads and not through residential areas. I ask that this application be rejected and the farm encouraged to develop further on land close to a main road where large vehicles don't have to pass through residential areas.”

Attached to the planning application is a letter from McCartneys planning, which says: “The proposed building is a large open plan structure, with the eaves height specially designed to ensure air flow between the units and air space to the cows.

“In addition the large open plan space helps meet the cow density requirements to animal welfare, and as a result will help to improve overall herd welfare.”

According to the proposal, the building will measure 120ft x 45ft (36.57m x 13.71m), extending to 5400ft2 (501.37m2) with a 4ft (1.2m) overhang to the western elevation.

A statement on the McCartneys letter says :"The proposal for a new a new agricultural building will not have a negative impact on the surroundings. The storm water is to be disposed by an attention pond then outfall to a ditch on the southern boundary located away from the main buildings and the road."

The consultation ends on March 2 2021.