Milking parlour in pipeline as planners back green-belt bid

COUNCIL officers are supporting a move to build a milking parlour at a West Yorkshire dairy farm.

Harry Raw has applied to Bradford Council for planning permission for a rotary milking parlour and building housing cattle at Lyon House Farm, Lyon Road, Steeton with Eastburn – within the designated green belt.

The existing dairy would be demolished and the new dairy located further from the residential neighbours.

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Bradford Council has received comments from eight addresses raising concerns about the proposed development and one supporting it.

Critics have raised concerns about issues including noise levels from traffic; animal smells and noise and a loss of green space. It has been claimed the development is “ill considered and unnecessary”.

But a report to be considered by Bradford Council’s Area Planning Panel for Keighley on Thursday advises councillors to approve the scheme.

It says: “The development will have no significant adverse effects on the local amenity, the amenity of neighbours or the character of the local environment and agricultural use is appropriate to the Green Belt location.

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“The design is considered sympathetic to its setting in terms of design, scale, height, massing and materials. The development has positive benefits for highway safety through the provision of improved parking and Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) turning facilities and for the amenity of neighbours due to the removal of the existing boundary trees and their replacement with an appropriate landscaping scheme.”

The size of the herd and the intensity of the agricultural activities at the site will not increase as a result of the development at the farm, which has a herd of 330 Holstein Friesian dairy cows.

The proposed building will include a new rotary milking parlour with associated collecting pen, segregation pen and handling facilities, the dairy processing unit including milk storage and refrigeration, individual calving pens and transitional cow housing.

In support of the scheme, it has been said there will be a reduction in noise pollution and Lyon Road will be cleaner due to livestock no longer accessing the milking parlour via the road.

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It has also been said congestion along Lyon Road would improve and the new development would improve animal welfare.

Steeton with Eastburn Parish Council has said that it would support the decision of the planning officer subject to a number of comments and queries.

It wants to know if some of the space currently occupied by existing buildings could be used to build part of the new milking parlour.

Concerns have been raised about the “over-intensification of the site” which it has been said will increase the volume of traffic accessing the site down a narrow country lane.

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However, the parish council has welcomed any economic benefits that the site may provide to the area.

The report says that the proposed development will “support the ongoing viability of the agricultural enterprise, providing modern facilities, improved animal welfare and suitable parking and turning arrangements.”

It adds: “Whilst the impact on visual and residential amenity of the scheme as originally proposed was considered acceptable the agent and application have made efforts to amend the proposal to respond to the comments received.

“These changes have resulted in the building being set farther back into the site.

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“The removal of the existing frontage trees and the old calving pens, dairy and parlour will improve the visual appearance of the site; this will be further improved by the planting of a new hedge. Noise generating activities such as refrigeration and calving will also be moved further away from residential neighbours.”