Major Developments at Wellow Alpaca Farm
West Wight Alpacas held an open hour for local residents last Saturday. A member of the public recorded the meeting and it is available for public listening https://ia601503.us.archive.org/8/items/wwa-consultation/wwa-consultation.mp3
Among plans announced were their plan to build a house (despite having only temporary planning consent for their caravans), a liquor license, opening till late at night year-round, a conservatory to turn their café into a proper licensed restaurant, camels (under a zoo license and Dangerous Wild Animals License), 'Shepherds' Huts', a kind of posh camping, presumably with showers, toilets, access, parking, etc. They are planning to sell their land opposite the Baptist Chapel/Mattingley Farm after applying for a large vehicular entrance. The company is expecting to get more than the agricultural value for the land which, they say, has development potential as a housing estate. When asked what steps they were taking to mitigate the effect on the local community, we were told, in essence, that life moves forward and we mustn't stand in the way of their financial progress. The owners confirmed that they have no long-term plan to remain in our community but they plan to sell up and move 'somewhere warmer maybe the South of France' when they have enough money from the sale of the land in Wellow presumably.
Meanwhile, a herd of rheas has arrived at the alpaca farm. Rheas belong to a family called 'ratites' which includes ostriches, rheas and emus. Residents might like to read the rules about the keeping of rheas because, amongst other facts, it states:-
http://www.coe.int/t/e/legal_affairs/legal_co-operation/biological_safety_and_use_of_animals/farming/rec%20ratites%20e.asp#P51_814
http://tinyurl.com/ratites
The fences should have a minimum height of 1,50 m for young rheas (4-5 months) and 170 cm for adults.
Ratite farming should not be undertaken lightly and
that anyone farming them has to be certain that they are able and
willing to devote the finance and time needed to ensure the birds'
health and welfare;
The current high morbidity and mortality in many
ratites sites compared with domesticated farm animal species and
considering the fact that ratites, as not domesticated but still
principally wild animals, are extremely susceptible to stress,
prevention of stress in the animals by fulfilling their natural health
and behaviour requirements is of the utmost importance;
Aware that the basic requirements for the health and welfare of
livestock consist of good stockmanship, husbandry systems appropriate to
the biological needs of the animals, and suitable environmental
factors, so that the conditions under which ratites are kept fulfil the
need for appropriate nutrition and methods of feeding, freedom of
movement, physical comfort, the need to perform normal behaviour and the
need for protection against adverse climatic conditions, attack by
predators, injury, infestation and disease or behavioural disorder, as
well as other essential needs as may be identified by established
experience or scientific knowledge;
Concerned by the fact that the scientific knowledge and practical
experience of keeping ratites under European conditions are limited and
that therefore there is a great risk that producers attempt to
introduce husbandry methods which are not suitable for the health and
welfare of ratites;
Bearing in mind that the environment and management have to
fulfil the animal's biological needs rather than trying to "adapt" the
animals to the environment by procedures such as mutilations;
1. Those who handle ratites must be familiar with their behaviour and
be competent in their handling and management. They must be aware of
the signs of disease or stress. This competence shall be assessed by a
body in accordance with national legislation.
2. Prior to birds' arrival on a newly established farm a
substantial period of training including practical experience is
necessary for those who will handle ratites. Training shall include
items listed in Appendix 1. Continued training is considered essential.
3. The possibility of official authorisation should be considered prior to setting up a farm for ratites.
Warning notices about the danger to birds of disturbance or of
objects thrown into the enclosure and the danger to people who might
enter the enclosure shall be placed in prominent places outside the
enclosures.
The next Shalfleet Parish Council Meeting will be held at the Wellow Institute, at 7.15pm on Wednesday 14th October 2015.
I have embedded the agenda at the bottom of this post. The only items I can see that are a little out of the routine are:
Shalfleet Service Station. This site has caused concern to many local residents. I strongly suggest that those who have strong views either way should attend the Parish Council Meeting and voice their views. It DOES work. If people turn up to express their point of view councillors are influenced -- and quite rightly so, in a democracy!
Applications for grant funds from the Parish precept. In this time of cuts it's understandable that local voluntary organisations will try to raise funds from any available source including the Parish Council. The councillors need to look very carefully at where the precept is being spent. What is happening by stealth is that the ratepayer will be paying, via the un-capped Parish precept for things the County Council can't afford (the CC cannot raise rates by more than 2% without a referendum). That's fine as long as that's what the Parishioners want because it's the Parishioners who will be paying, not the councillors!
New information board outside the Horse and Groom. Physical information boards are becoming rather pointless for most people. We don't know when a notice is posted and few people would want to stop on that dangerous stretch of road just to read the information. Is it a good spend of Parish money? If there are funds available, how about a Parish e-mailing list to inform Parishioners immediately new information becomes available, or extraordinary meetings have been called. MailChimp is one of several commercial platforms. MC is free for very small lists such as this blog's list but unlimited for larger organisations. IWALC might be able to advise?
Sunday, 11 October 2015
Thursday, 24 September 2015
Wellow Alpacas ask planning to remove condition on opening hours so they can trade 10am to 11pm 365 days per year and removal of hedgerow to construct concrete vehicle access
Just weeks after the Isle of Wight Planning Department overturned the Planning Inspector's decision not to allow residential use of the agricultural land belong to West Wight Alpacas in Wellow, the company has submitted two new planning applications seeking to increase their activity in scope and hours, asking for opening hours of 10am to 11pm 365 days a year.
A Planning Meeting has been called by Shalfleet Parish Council for Wednesday 30th September 2015 at the Parish Office, Newbridge, 7.15pm public welcome to speak. The meeting is to discuss the two planning applications submitted by West Wight Alpacas to remove restrictions on their opening hours and to construct a concrete access and apron on the agricultural field directly opposite Weald House.
Residents said last night that they "feared the worst" since West Wight Alpacas announced their intention to build a modular housing estate on this land, in August 2013. See County Press "Modular homes idea for parish's young people" County Press August 10th 2013. One resident told the Blog "They already have access to this field from their main holding at the south side of the plot and this planning application is for a large entrance with hard standing that could not be justified for agricultural use alone. They don't say what they want to do with the field but with an entrance like that it isn't going to be just agricultural use, surely?"
Other residents living closer to the farm shop told the Blog that they were already troubled by cooking smells, noise, traffic and vehicle headlights shining directly into their property and that any increase on the present permitted opening hours (10 am to 5.30pm) would "destroy the peace and rural nature of the hamlet".
The location of the Isle of Wight Council planning webpages for these applications are on the council website and embedded in the Blog below, for your convenience. If you wish to make a formal comment about these applications direct to the council you can do so at:
TCP/30601/M, P/01050/15 Variation of condition no. 8 on P/01713/12 TCP/30601/H to allow opening hours of 1000 hours to 2300 hours Monday to Sunday including Bank and Public Holidays
TCP/30601/N, P/01051/15 Formation of vehicular access
A Planning Meeting has been called by Shalfleet Parish Council for Wednesday 30th September 2015 at the Parish Office, Newbridge, 7.15pm public welcome to speak. The meeting is to discuss the two planning applications submitted by West Wight Alpacas to remove restrictions on their opening hours and to construct a concrete access and apron on the agricultural field directly opposite Weald House.
Residents said last night that they "feared the worst" since West Wight Alpacas announced their intention to build a modular housing estate on this land, in August 2013. See County Press "Modular homes idea for parish's young people" County Press August 10th 2013. One resident told the Blog "They already have access to this field from their main holding at the south side of the plot and this planning application is for a large entrance with hard standing that could not be justified for agricultural use alone. They don't say what they want to do with the field but with an entrance like that it isn't going to be just agricultural use, surely?"
Other residents living closer to the farm shop told the Blog that they were already troubled by cooking smells, noise, traffic and vehicle headlights shining directly into their property and that any increase on the present permitted opening hours (10 am to 5.30pm) would "destroy the peace and rural nature of the hamlet".
The location of the Isle of Wight Council planning webpages for these applications are on the council website and embedded in the Blog below, for your convenience. If you wish to make a formal comment about these applications direct to the council you can do so at:
TCP/30601/M, P/01050/15 Variation of condition no. 8 on P/01713/12 TCP/30601/H to allow opening hours of 1000 hours to 2300 hours Monday to Sunday including Bank and Public Holidays
TCP/30601/N, P/01051/15 Formation of vehicular access
Thursday, 10 September 2015
Shalfleet Parish Council Meeting September 9th 2015
Again we had a very disappointing turnout of councillors. Present: Cllrs Hewston (dep Chair acting Chair), Baxandall and McGuirk were present with Mrs Woods, Clerk.
Clare Griffin, Manager of the West Wight Sports Centre briefed those present on some of the activities. You can listen to that in the first half hour in the audio embedded below. You can easily download the audio as an MP3 to play on your phone, tablet or other player like a podcast. There's no copyright so no need to fiddle...it's intuitive on the embedded player. Sadly someone cast a spell on my video camera and it is very poorly. I'll either replace it or mend it in due course but meanwhile I'm afraid we are stuck with just audio! One person commented that the last audio I posted was a bit too quiet. Comments, please.
Mrs Griffin also briefed us about a special day at Yarmouth on Saturday. The details are below. Do please try to come; the weather forecast looks good and lots of effort as well as cost goes into making the event a great day so do please try to support it.
Clare Griffin, Manager of the West Wight Sports Centre briefed those present on some of the activities. You can listen to that in the first half hour in the audio embedded below. You can easily download the audio as an MP3 to play on your phone, tablet or other player like a podcast. There's no copyright so no need to fiddle...it's intuitive on the embedded player. Sadly someone cast a spell on my video camera and it is very poorly. I'll either replace it or mend it in due course but meanwhile I'm afraid we are stuck with just audio! One person commented that the last audio I posted was a bit too quiet. Comments, please.
AUDIO 1: THE FIRST 30 MINS, West Wight Sports Centre and related matters
Mrs Griffin also briefed us about a special day at Yarmouth on Saturday. The details are below. Do please try to come; the weather forecast looks good and lots of effort as well as cost goes into making the event a great day so do please try to support it.
The Parish Council Meeting proceeded with the agenda. Click HERE to open up that post in a new tab. The agenda is embedded down at the bottom of the page. You can listen to the whole proceedings on the embedded audio below. Again, you can download it like a podcast if you wish. The item which had the most general interest was the Homestead Solar Park planning application. The Parish Council objected to it on the grounds that a) At is overbearing and was not demonstrated to be essential for the solar park to be completed and commissioned. b) Residents explained in some detail health concerns about the radio towers and their proximity to the population.
AUDIO 2: The main meeting
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)