August 2008 - full planning permission has just been granted for a greatly reduced area of Spanish Polytunnels at Tuesley Farm.

We have been campaigning since 2004 for a large grower of soft fruit called the Hall Hunter Partnership to submit a full planning application for its massive Spanish polytunnel development at Tuesley Farm, near Godalming. Now, after more than 4 years work by Kathy Smyth, one of our local members, the campaign to ensure planning controls are applied to large agricultural polytunnels at Tuesley Farm, near Godalming, has reached a successful conclusion. The case has attracted national media interest and has become the leading case on the need for planning permission for these structures.
After losing its High Court appeal against the refusal of planning permission, Hall Hunter finally accepted it had to compromise and start to talk sensibly to the residents and local authority. Kathy now has meetings with Harry Hall and his staff to discussion problems arising from having such a large scale farm so close to residential areas. She has had a big input into the final planning permission and important issues such as the quality and management of the landscaping and how the movement of the polytunnels will be monitored
The outcome of this campaign has been a massive improvement on the situation in 2003/4 when over 100 acres of tunnels were erected for months on end. It has finally resulted in an exemplar planning permission, backed up by stringent conditions and a detailed s106 planning agreement.
We can supply details of the planning permission on request. Some of the particularly important features are a strict limit on the total area of polytunnels which can be covered in plastic at any one time – it is the plastic covering which causes the greatest visual and environmental impact. Additionally we have secured a wide area between the tunnelled area and neighbouring houses – it is a much wider area in most places than the arbitrary 30 or 50 metres used by the NFU. There is also a condition requiring total removal of the frames in the strawberry fields for at least 3 months of every year.

For information on the associated campaign for an improved pesticide regime at Tuesley Farm click here.

For Tuesley Farm campaign history and background on the Spanish polytunnel debate, see here.