The National Farmers Union has stepped into the fray in a legal battle involving the use of polytunnels to grow soft fruit in Herefordshire.

The local county council granted planning permission to the grower in 2008 for polytunnels covering 255 hectares, of which only 54 hectares would be covered at any one time.

However, a local Wye Valley action group recently won a High Court challenge against Herefordshire County Council’s decision. The judge ruled that local authority had made an “error of law” based on Herefordshire’s failing to require an environmental impact assessment. Such assessments are a legal requirement in certain circumstances before permission can be granted. In this instance, the judge quashed the council’s original decision.

According to the NFU, Herefordshire Council has been granted permission to appeal the judge’s decision with a hearing due to be held in the Court of Appeal in November.

NFU chief legal adviser Nina Winter said: “We have been supportive of Herefordshire Council’s stance and are pleased that they have been granted leave to appeal. An EIA wasn’t originally required by the Council, but the High Court subsequently ruled that the site was ‘semi-natural’ such that an EIA should have been required. We feel that the relevant EIA legislation was incorrectly interpreted by the High Court, and we are particularly concerned with the High Court’s finding that the site was ‘semi natural’ as a matter of law. This could impact on the industry more widely and that is why the NFU is keen to support the council’s appeal of the High Court’s decision. The NFU, with support from the Legal Assistance Scheme, has applied to the court to be an ‘intervener’ in this case and we will be making written submissions directly to the Court of Appeal.”

The NFU became involved in the case because of the importance of polytunnels to the UK soft-fruit industry as a whole. It has been given permission to make written submissions to the Court of Appeal, and will be making those submissions with financial support from the NFU’s legal assistance scheme.

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