Farm plans new access to take big machines off single track lane
A farm business near Telford wants to create a new access onto a busy road so that its big farm machinery doesn’t have to chug along a narrow lane and through a residential area.
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Tern Farm, in Longdon Upon Tern, is a 524-acre arable holding farm that benefits from having reservoirs for irrigation on the southern part of the farm.
Planning agent Ian Pick, of Harrison Pick Ltd, has told planners at Telford & Wrekin Council that access to the farm is currently via the single-track Tern Lane.
“Tern Lane is a single track road which passes through a residential area and is not suited to take large modern agricultural machinery and heavy goods vehicle traffic which are required in connection with the operation of Tern Farm as a large arable farming business,” he said.
But Tern Farm does have a secondary, unsurfaced access to the B5062, adjacent to Bridge Cottage.
And now the farm is proposing to use that access as a way to stop having to use the narrow lane.
So the farm has applied to the council to construct a new access from Cotwall Lane (B5062), located at the Moortown end of the farm. The road is a well-used rural route connecting Shrewsbury with Newport.
The applicants have also carried out a full report into how animals, birds and plants will be affected by the removal of two hedgerows. The plan is to replant the hedgerows to make way for the new access on the road.
Traffic on the B-road has been measured at 52mph and the hedgerows have to be removed to give a clear view in both directions for an ‘industrial farm entrance’.
The applicants say the entrance will be designed to local highway authority specification.
The plan is out for public consultation on the Telford & Wrekin Council planning website with the reference number TWC/2025/0012.
