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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Kevin Dyson

Housing developer incorrectly claimed farm was not operating after noise and smell concerns

Councillors will be asked to refuse a bid for 39 new homes on the outskirts of Crosshouse which one neighbour says will make his home 'uninhabitable'.

Developer Dawn Homes told East Ayrshire Council's planners that the adjacent Holm Farm was no longer operating as a farm as it pushed back against objections concerning noise and smell.

Council officers found that it was still operating when environmental health officials visited the site.

Frank Smith, the owner of Holm Farm, said that the proposals would destroy his garden and the septic tank which services his home, rendering it uninhabitable, as well as negatively impacting residents of the new homes.

Dawn Homes say their proposals would ensure septic tanks would be unaffected.

The developer had sought to play down the impact of noise and odour from the farm, a situation that would ordinarily be counted against a residential development.

A report to councillors said that Dawn Homes had insisted there would 'be no issue with noise and odour as the farm had ceased 'main farm work' and was being used for 'smaller, non-farm uses'.

They provided a noise and odour assessment which only took place over the course of two days last September.

However, it was discovered that this was not the case when the council's Environmental Health service visited the site.

The report continued: "Having visited the site, the Environmental Health Service witnessed noise from the small business in the form of a generator and animal noise.

"During this visit, we established that the farm remains operational."

They said that the assessments for noise and odour were made prior to cattle and horses being moved from pasture back into the farm in November and were not a true representation of conditions.

Mr Smith said that the developer "plans to squeeze houses into the back of my farm sheds. Not only that, they are also proposing to destroy my garden and septic tank, thereby making my house uninhabitable."

He added that the a number of the proposed houses with experience noise issues, such as tractors revving and cattle 'mooing' along with seasonal disturbances such as bale wrapping and muck spreading.

It was also pointed out that there is a shed which contains up to a million litres of slurry.

SEPA require properties to built 400m from the slurry storage, but the Mr Smith said that many of the plots were as little as 40m from the tank.

Planners concluded that the applicant's claim that there was no activity rising from the farm was countered by the farm insistence that it remains operational.

They added: "There is some aerial mapping evidence, as well as that seen at officer site visit, that suggests a reasonable level of farm activity is still being carried out on Holm Farm/small holding.

Officials did admit that the 'reality' was probably in a grey area between the opposing views.

However, they stated that 'it is clear that a degree of farming use at Holm Farm takes place'.

They also admit that it is feasible that the noise and odour may still be acceptable, but pointed out that the evidence was insufficient to persuade them one way or the other.

A Dawn Homes spokesperson said: “When carefully considering the viability of Crosshouse, which is allocated for residential development in the council’s own Local Development Plan, we identified a business case submitted by the neighbouring landowner from 2017 in support of a planning application which confirmed that their site could no longer function as an operational farm.

“All necessary reports were commissioned, and our plans fully consider the adjacent land, with clear provisions made in our designs to ensure the septic tank can continue to function and be serviced, without impacting residents."

The spokesperson added that the development would bring more housing within walking distance of Crosshouse Hospital, would create new jobs and stimulate local services and businesses in the area.

The planning committee will consider the application on Friday, January 13.

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