what is agriculture?

sydthebeat

guys, i need a bit of help here please.

has anyone had the experience of arguing between what is agriculture and what is commercial from a planning point of view.

I have a client who has 7 acres of land, and he wants to build a shed of approx 100 sq m to process straw into bedding for animals. He will collect the straw himself and process in this shed and sell on as packed and processed bedding.
I see that the definition in the 2000 planning act is:
"agriculture” includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming, the breeding and keeping of livestock (including any creature kept for the production of food, wool, skins or fur, or for the purpose of its use in the farming of land), the training of horses and the rearing of bloodstock, the use of land as grazing land, meadow land, osier land, market gardens and nursery grounds, and “agricultural” shall be construed accordingly;"

Im of the opinion its commercial, he wants to try a section 5 first, which is fine by me. Im just wondering what arguments might have been made in previous section 5 applications.

The implications of it being deemed commercial are huge. FSC application required, DAC required, development contributions of what would probably be 20 years worth of profit......

any advice greatly appreciated.

Poor Uncle Tom

Sending PM.

Mellor

Personally I think its argricultural.
It's obviously a commercial operation, but so are almost all agricultural processes.
Growing fruit or raise animals for food is a commerical venture. But it's also an agricultural process which puts it in that category. The same applies to the bedding.

rayjdav

I would also tend to agree with Mellor here.
The process appears to be provision of material for agricultural use, produced in an agricultural setting. Never to reach the average consumer as such, so by my assumptions, it would fall under agriculture.

sydthebeat

thanks guys