schedule of planning applications

In response to these questions the applicants Agent has responded thus;
"We are writing to confirm that the fundamental use of the site is agriculture,
comprising the growing of plants, shrubs and trees. This business is carried out by
Mr Upton as a sole trader. The business uses most of the site including all of the
growing houses and also generates most income on the holding.
The tree surgery/forestry and landscaping businesses of Daniel C Upton and Upton
Tree Services Ltd both operate from the site in accordance with a previous change of
use. However, those businesses only use small areas of the nursery compared to
what had been envisaged when planning permission was granted. This is due to poor
economic climate that has resulted in both of these businesses being downsized.
The farm office is used by Daniel C Upton Ltd and Upton Tree Services Ltd, but it is
also the registered address of Southern Wood Energy Limited which is the forestry
side of the business producing landscape products and wood fuel. The wood fuel is
produced at a site near Blandford Forum.
You will appreciate that there is considerable integration between the various
businesses operating from the site, which provide tree care and forestry services
together with landscaping using plants, shrubs and trees grown on the site. Residues
from the nursery and the tree surgery/forestry business are recycled for use in the
landscaping business or used for compost at the nursery, or to provide heating.
There is no clear business plan for the site due to business still evolving.
Furthermore the applicant is still exploring business opportunities as they present
themselves. However the main use of the site is for the growing of plants both in
terms of area used and turnover, and this situation is unlikely to change over the next
few years.
Regarding comments in your third paragraph we can confirm that pellets are not, nor
have ever been, manufactured on site and you are already aware that Mr Upton is
taking steps to regularise the planning situation regarding the storage of logs.
We trust that this additional information will be sufficient for members of the Planning
Committee to determine the planning application before them, which is simply trying
to regularise the situation that actually exists on the ground".
The proposal
In effect this application seeks to regularise the existing mixture of uses which are
taking place on this site, namely a tree surgery business and the horticultural use of
the existing glasshouses. When planning permission was granted for Daniel Upton to
relocate his landscaping/tree surgery business to this site under reference 3/07/1592
on 29 February 2008 it was not anticipated that the then redundant glasshouses
would be put to horticultural uses. However, they are now being fully utilised for
growing bedding plants. This proposal is, therefore, not contentious in this respect.
Planning permission was granted under reference 3/09/0349 on 13 August 2009 to
extend a track and store woodchip.
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