Wellie-wanging plans for Shropshire get the boot

A proposed farm activity centre, which would have catered for hen and stag parties, have been thrown out by councillors after concerns about the impact on the surrounding area.

A bid to run the activity centre in Bronington, near Whitchurch, was put off by members of a council's planning committee early this month after a site visit.

The plans were recommended for approval by planning officers despite 16 objections from members of the public.

Bronington Community Council had also objected to the application, listing a range of reasons why it should be refused.

These include lack of engagement with the local community, road traffic safety on the A495, parking concerns, noise levels, ecology worries as there are buzzards in the area and the site's proximity to a shooting range.

The centre, which would have been ran by Yorkshire-based firm Farm Adventure, planned to host welly throwing, pig herding and games with tractors.

As well as hen and stag parties, it wanted to provide corporate away days and for 12 days a year be used as a DIY wedding venue.

The company already provides alternative wedding-themed events in Ripon and wants to expand into rural Shropshire.

At a recent Wrexham Council planning meeting, councillor David Griffiths stated he thought the site visit was well worth the time and proposed the refusal, believing it did not complement the rural setting.

He said: "I got a big advantage of going on the site visit to understand and to see what it was. I don't see it as diversification. I see it as a new enterprise within a rural setting. It is an intrusion to a rural setting; it doesn't compliment the area at all. The road is well known and has a lot of accidents.

"I am also bothered about the noise. I am 99.9 per cent certain this will be a big disturbance. I am also worried about the self monitoring of the wedding venue as it is DIY."

Councillor John Pritchard added: "Public health issues could be a problem there because what it is going to be used for in the future including drinking and toilet issues."

However Councillor Mike Edwards said: "There is already some background noise there.

"It is being treated as diversification. It is being operated by a farmer; they do need to do other things these days as it is getting more and more important that they can have a livelihood as well as traditional farming."