Tractor driver wants house in countryside

An Audlem farm worker is appealing to Cheshire East to consider its rules on new homes in the open countryside

He wants outline planning consent to build a home on a green field site on Woore Road, near Audlem.

The worker, who currently lives in Audlem, has operated a small agricultural contracting business for 10 years and works on several local farms

He has a new tractor and implements to carry out contract services on local farmers including ploughing, hedge cutting and harvesting.

But his equipment is stored in a remote shed which is left unattended overnight and vulnerable to thieves and vandals. He travels daily to the shed to pick up his tractor and machinery.

He now wants consent to build a house near the shed so he can keep an eye on his machinery and also take greater care of some prize-winning sheep he rears in a field nearby.

Although he works directly in agriculture and provides an essential full-time service to farming locally he cannot claim to be an essential agricultural worker as the new house would not form part of an existing farm complex.

A Design Statement to Cheshire East says: "Whilst we appreciate that this is not classed as an essential dwelling attached to a working farm and for a farm worker we must point out that he provides an equally important function, not just to one farm but to many farms in the local community and, like the farm dwelling, would like to live within sight and sound of the machinery and animals on his plot."

Buerton Parish Council will be asked for its comments on the plan which will be decided by a Cheshire East planning officer under delegated authority.

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