Rural Advisor have recently secured planning for a covered muck store in Herefordshire following a series of difficulties identified by the Planning Department’s Ecologist.
The number of covered muck store applications have increased significantly in all areas where funding is available from the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, however this has also coincided with increased concern about phosphates and run off into water courses.
This site alike most of the county fell within the impact risk zone for the River Wye, and also within 5km of several SSSIs. We awaited the comments from the ecologists for several months after submission of what should have been a straightforward application. After receiving the consultation comments, we supported the application with a detailed SCAIL Assessment (Simple Calculation for Atmospheric Impact Limits) which was able to demonstrate there would be a lesser effect from air emissions from farmyard manure (FYM) stored in a purpose built shed than the current temporary field heaps which was the current practise.
The application was submitted in February and the grant of planning permission was received by Mid November, so taking some 8 months in total.
We recommend anyone pursuing a muck store application with full planning does so with plenty of time left on their grant agreement offer, as you only have the first two years of any Mid Tier Agreement to undertake the capital works. If you fall into the Impact Risk Zone for the Wye or Lugg, you will likely need to submit some kind of SCAIL assessment, this would also likely apply for livestock housing sheds too, so it would be wise to submit that SCAIL assessment with the application instead of re-consulting the ecologist as you would be adding potentially months to the application window.
If you would like assistance with a new or existing muck store or livestock housing application, please do not hesitate to contact Ellie Watkins on 07495 006808 or ellie.watkins@ruraladvisor.co.uk