About Our Planning Application
The Background
After 90 years in Priddy as tenants of the Firbank family the
time has come to move on. After Mrs Firbank passed away the family
have decided to sell the property and we wish them well and thank
the whole family for all the support they have given us.
For some years, then, we have been looking hard for options to
relocate the kennels. The best of them is the rural and isolated
position off Dudwell Lane.
Please be very clear about what is at stake here – the Mendip
Hills have been hunted with a pack of hounds since before Napoleonic
times. The Boxing Day Meet at Priddy, the Farmer’s Dances, the
annual Point to Point, the fallen stock collection for Mendip
Farmers, even threads of the countryside’s social fabric like the
Hunt Skittles League. All of it hangs in the balance.
The Application
So we have looked long and hard for a place from which we can
continue hunting and continue to serve the rural community. And
we’ve listened. When resistance to a site in Priddy was noted we
decided to try and find an alternative. Through the generosity of
Brian Clothier, one of the Mendip Farmers whose friendship and
support is so vital to the hunt, we have been offered what we regard
to be an ideal site. To see the application in full please visit
www.mendip.gov.uk
go to planning then search for application reference 2010/0525.
& the Nonsense!
Some extraordinary leaflets have recently been distributed asking
interested parties to visit this site. Sadly the author ‘forgot’ to
put his name to them. We owe them our gratitude, though, because
they have given us a clear opportunity to explain what the kennels
will really mean.
The leaflet states that 80 hounds will ‘howl all night’ before
hunting.
Not true. The simple fact is that hounds are uniquely
well-exercised and played out by the rigours of their job. At night,
they sleep. In addition we will be taking steps to provide effective
sound insulation. But don’t take our word for it - in 90 years we
have never had a single complaint from a neighbour about noise:
“We live far closer to the current kennels than Chewton Mendip
lies from the new site, about 1/4 mile – and we have never, ever
been disturbed by hounds.” Mr L Sparkes.
“We live barely 200 yards from the kennels and can unhesitatingly
say the hunt are good and considerate neighbours – as to noise,
we’ve never had any problems.” Mrs Stokesbury
The leaflet worries about a sudden increase in traffic
Let's be clear, this application is for a kennels building with
three employees. Of course the hunt lorry makes a journey out and
back on hunting days, and the van to collect stock from our farmers
is used on other days. But it is a single van, and hunt meets are
not held at the kennels but all over the hunt country.
The leaflet states that we haven’t held any formal or informal
consultations.
Not true. We began a detailed informal consultation period when
preparing our application. It included residents, tenants of
neighbouring land and neighbours from Chewton Mendip and Ston
Easton. We also offered discussions with close neighbours not
previously contacted soon after the application was registered as
complete. This invitation was not taken up.
The leaflet warns of 'Light Pollution'
Of course we have lights on if we’re tending to animals after
dark, but they won't be floodlights. The entire complex has been
very deliberately designed to be inside. It will cause no more
‘light pollution’ than any other resident.
The leaflet warns of a ‘Commercial Development’
Planning categories dictate that we put our kennels in the same
bracket as, for example, a plastics factory but it’s not
'commercial' in anything like the same sense. We will use it to look
after our horses and hounds, and to provide a vital service to the
farming community in recognition of their support.
The leaflet claims there will be ‘increased vermin’
Our premises are inspected on a monthly basis by DEFRA inspectors
who are looking for any signs of uncleanliness or vermin. As their
inspection reports prove these claims are without foundation. We are
scrupulously clean and professional in what we do.
The leaflet states that horse and pony riders, walkers and
cyclists will be ‘endangered’
A well-disciplined pack of hounds under the control of
experienced hunt staff poses no ‘danger’. On the contrary, we find
walkers and youngsters on ponies love to see us exercising hounds –
in fact they often as not join in.
The leaflet states we’ll spread dog muck on local farmland
This is untrue. In fact litter from hounds is not spread on the
fields, instead it is collected, taken away from the kennels, and
incinerated. As you can see - it's not us spreading shit.
So Please Come and See
But don’t take our word for it. Unlike many planning applications
you can see exactly what we are about whenever it suits you. By all
means give the kennels a ring and arrange a time to come down and
see us – we’ve nothing to hide and feel you have every right to come
down.
Please call Richard Standing 01749 870 271 and we will endeavour to
show you there's no need to worry, and indeed to make you welcome. |
