Agricultural Workers Dwelling Justification

Mr Ian Kelly Application No.: Planning Officer: 21/01444/B-

We would like to provide some additional information regarding our planning application.

In recent years the demographics of the farming industry has changed dramatically, the days when farms were valued and sold on a per acre basis irrespective of the condition of the dwelling and associated farm buildings have long since gone, in today’s economic environment the land is just a by-product, the real value is in the farmstead which is seen as a “given” to be able to build an exclusive dwelling in the countryside usually with the land retained and rented out to a farmer. This has turned farmsteads into a very valuable commodity which bears absolutely no relation to its potential viability as a working farm. It is a sad fact that when farmers have retired in recent years the farm almost certainly ceases to exist as a working farm. Unfortunately even a lot of tenanted farms succumb to the same fate, as most landlords see the value in their properties and cash in on their asset, I have even known landlords approach their tenants who were approaching retirement age and offered them compensation to vacate their farms in order that the landlord can then sell them, this has happened twice in the St. Marks area with two of the biggest and best farms being sold purely for development purposes, one has now been developed and the other is currently the subject of a planning application to build an exclusive property on it.

Before looking into the future, I think it would be prudent to take a look back in history to the wartime when the value of farmers was unquestionably regarded with the utmost importance to feed the nation in a time of crisis, unfortunately once again the world appears to be heading down that road with major shortages of food on the horizon to feed an ever increasing world population. Looking closer to home we have developed complacent attitude towards a ensuring a sustainable supply by assuming that the ferry will turn up every day with a constant supply of food to feed the Islands population, however this assumption is deeply floored as our only source of food is from the U.K. who are now less than 60% self-sufficient themselves, the situation is further compounded in the shadow of brexit which has left the U.K. politically and geographically isolated which is a very dangerous place to be in the present world!

On the Island we have not only lost many good farms and the associated infrastructure to run them as ‘proper’ farms, but we have also lost many of the skilled personnel. The growing of vegetables and milling wheat are particularly skilled sectors of the industry, unfortunately there are very few farmers left on the Island with the necessary skills to grow vegetables and it now looks like the milling wheat sector is going to go the same way.

Also, the unprecedented rise in the cost of feed and fertiliser (animal feedstuff has doubled and fertiliser trebled in the past two years) has turned the economics of the industry on its head and will almost certainly see a contraction in food production which will further exacerbate the impending global food shortages. It is crucial that farming is now given all the help it can to step up to the plate in order to provide a sustainable agricultural industry to feed the Island’s population.

We now farm in total 482 acres of land, having acquired another 15 acres since our application was lodged back in December 2021, (the latest parcel of land being situated on the Clanna Road approximately 1 mile away from our land at the Braaid) however without a central base that has all the facilities to cater for running a farm it is very difficult to operate efficiently, whilst we have access to a farm building on one of the farms we rent it is in an isolated location and has no electrical supply, this is particularly frustrating at lambing time when new born lambs suffering from hypothermia and need placing under a heat lamp and fed with a drink of warm milk administered via a stomach tube which necessities a 7 mile round trip back to our current house ( this could happen 6 or 7 times a day at lambing time) to tend to them. It is also frustrating when there is a breakdown of machinery whilst doing field work at busy times of the year, which means we have to take any machinery back to our current house where there is an electricity supply in order to repair it, this work is carried out on the highway outside of the house which could well involve using a grinder and welder which is far from an ideal place to operate such tools, also whilst being focused on the work in hand it is easy to forget that you are working at the roadside with vehicles passing by.

Another drawback with the isolated location of the current barn is security, as we have had numerous items stolen from there, hence we don’t leave valuable items such as tools etc there, it is also a worry having to leave our working dogs in such an isolated location, as they are not only valuable working dogs but also companions that we are very attached to.

In 2013 the Island suffered a catastrophic snowstorm which claimed the lives of many sheep and cattle on the Island, fortunately we escaped the worst of it, but it is a worry that such an event could happen again, and we would be stranded from tending our

stock and dogs. We currently live on the B35 which would be a low priority road to be opened in such an event however the A26 and A24 where the proposed house would be situated would be a high priority which would mean we could get to within a short distance from our stock.

Over the years we have sought guidance from various planning officer's as to what would be acceptable given our circumstances, the advice was consistent that they would like to see any proposed house situated close to an existing group of houses. We have looked at numerous parcels of land but felt that they would be unacceptable to the planners due to their sporadic and isolated locations. However, when we had the opportunity to buy the land at the Braaid we felt that this would be the ideal location given the guidance we have been given.

We recently acquired a barn which is also the subject of our application which we would like to erect on the fields at the Braaid, we would like to point out that this barn in question has been located on a property at the top of Ballamodha (the Corlea Road) we have attached a photo of it that was taken as we were dismantling it, as you can see it was in a very conspicuous location clearly visible from a large area of the south of the Island, so in essence we would not be building a new barn on the Island but merely relocating it from a highly visible location to somewhere much less intrusive

I was brought up on nearby Sulbrick Farm where we were tenants, however shortly after I bought the farm we were faced with crippling finance charges with interest rates hitting 16%, this coupled with the BSE crisis which led to the collapse of the beef market coupled with rock bottom milk prices meant that we were facing unsustainable losses which meant having to sell the farm. We then continued farming on the land that we rented at the time and have expanded over the years to our current combined acreage of 482 acres.

Marown Commissioners have objected to our application, in their submission they have stated that 'no one has a given right to own a property' we find their comments quite astounding! It would also appear that the Commissioners have not thoroughly read through the application as it appears that they have not grasped the fact that we live in short term rented accommodation, also they state that we should build the house adjacent to an existing group of farm buildings, again they don't seem to grasp that we don't own any buildings or any other property on the Island.

It is significant that Manx National Heritage have not raised any objection or comments regarding the application, likewise the Society for the preservation of the Manx Countryside and the Environment, the Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society, and The Eco System Policy Team have made no comment or objection to the application.

Finally, in 2017 an application 17/00770/B was approved for an extension and new entrance gates on the property Bluebell House, Braaid Farm, (the adjoining property). In the planning officer’s report it was stated “under planning policy 4.1 ‘the site lies within an area designated on the Isle of Man planning scheme (development plan) order 1982 as open space. It is not recognised as being of high landscape value and scenic significance.”

Yours Ian Kelly