A community farm which for years has been a popular destination for school trips, agricultural trainees and army veterans is being forced to close due to a row over planning permission.
Willaston Community Farm, near Hooton, has been used by various groups for training in agriculture, animal therapy, horticulture and farm maintenance, as well as by soldiers recovering from PTSD with the help of the farm's therapy garden.. In February 2022, comedian Stan Boardman donated an accessible bus, allowing groups of disabled children to take day trips to the farm.
But now the farm is closing its gates to the public after Cheshire West and Chester Council found it was operating beyond what was officially allowed.
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Owner Paul Jackson, 60, said: "It's devastating because there's all kinds of people who make use of us - schools, Crosby Training, the DWP, vulnerable people. We've had a young dying lad, five years old, who came here with not long to live and we shut the farm for him for a day and gave him run of the place. We've had people from New Zealand. We had 17 Ukrainian ladies in for a wellbeing day last week. It will be desperately missed."
Mr Jackson said the trouble began in September 2022, when the farm made a planning application for an agricultural barn on the farm to be turned into overnight accommodation for guests.
He said: "The next thing I knew there were rumours about building a housing estate on the land, which was not true at all. People made assumptions, said the farm was disingenuous and wanted to build houses. I tried to keep the moral high ground and didn't address it. In the meantime planners refused me permission. I haven't appealed - I just left it.
"But because of that, people started making complaints, and the council came out and asked if we were allowed to retail. We've been retailing here for 40 years. We do Christmas trees here every year, and a small farm shop which supplied the village all through Covid-19 - it's just a little shed."
The council also took issue with a decking area near the farm's duck pond, a bushcraft area, and a static caravan. Mr Jackson said he made the alterations on his land in good faith, believing he did not need planning permission. He said he now has no choice but to remove the "community" aspect of his farm, as he cannot afford the required retrospective permission.
Cheshire West and Chester Council acknowledged that the farm was "a well-used and much loved community space for local people" - but that it was "not clear" whether new developments were in-line with relevant requirements.
Mr Jackson said: "The costs alone are too much. It just goes on and on. I guess the worry is, the more we do on the farm, the more likely it is we could want to build houses. I've been here 20 years - if I wanted to try to build houses here, I already would have.
"It has been shattering. The whole basis of the community farm was to help people. We put our own money into it - we don't get funding - we have done so much. Now we can no longer invite the schools here, we can't do training courses."
A council spokesperson said: "The Community Farm is a well-used and much loved community space for local people. We appreciate that most people apply for planning permission before carrying out controlled development, but unfortunately that has not happened in this case.
"It is not clear that the various activities and building works that have been carried out alongside the community farm use are in line with relevant requirements, and so it is important that the community has an opportunity to comment. Where it looks as though planning permission might be granted we encourage submission of a retrospective planning application so that people can continue to enjoy using the space. Where the council does not think planning permission should be granted it may issue a planning enforcement notice, as in this case regarding ceasing the residential use of the static caravan."
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