A COUNTRY lane near Chipping Sodbury has become “very dangerous” and congested after the opening of an animal care college, residents claim.
Peopleton Brook Farm provides a “lifeline” education for teenagers with special educational needs, offering post-16 qualifications in animal care and “life skills” lessons.
But the site only has permission for agricultural use, so the owners have made a retrospective planning application to South Gloucestershire Council to use the site as a “care farm”.
This has prompted a flurry of complaints from neighbours, who say that Mill Lane (pictured above), the only access road to the farm, is too narrow for all the students being driven back and forth.
Councillors on the development management committee are being recommended to approve the plans when they meet on Thursday.
Traffic is a ‘living nightmare’
One neighbour who wrote to object said: “As a resident of Mill Lane I regularly walk, drive, ride and cycle along the lane at all times of the day. I almost always meet a minibus, taxi or visitor’s car during the week, but not at the weekend.
“The care farm and any other business ventures do and will cause regular and unnecessary congestion on Mill Lane.
“It has become very dangerous, with a number of accidents reported and even more near misses. The lane is not suitable access for a care farm.”
Another neighbour said: “The state of the lane is appalling with very deep potholes, no passing places, apart from residents’ driveways, and very uneven surfaces. As a result of this I’ve had to get a new suspension and parts for my car.
“The traffic on the lane is a living nightmare as the time I leave for work is the time when all the workers at PBF come into work so I encounter lots of stand-offs, where people won’t reverse or simply cannot reverse or want to use my private driveway as a passing place.
“I have witnessed a crash which involved the applicant’s daughter and a PBF worker where the air bags went off.”
Farm makes a ‘huge difference’ – parents
Several parents have written in support of the farm, which they say “makes a huge difference” to their children.
One parent said: “My daughter has been attending the farm when they first started doing pony days, and now she attends there as a student four days a week.
“She has severe learning disabilities and it has made a huge difference to her life. Her communication has improved along with her well-being.”
“The work they do there is very important to a group of young adults who struggle to or are unable to access mainstream [education].
“It gives them purpose and adds value to their day-to-day lives. It would be a shame for a few to ruin it for the many.”
According to applicants, there are 50 children and young adults who use the college regularly, but no more than 25 visit on any day.
Also at the farm are ponies, horses, alpacas, goats, sheep and pigs.
Local schools are also supporting the application, given the lack of alternative learning provision across the wider area for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
But there were other reasons for the public objections too. One neighbour said the traffic to the college was affecting her horse’s post-surgery rehabilitation programme. They said: “The sheer amount of traffic to and from PBF meant I had to either rush which was detrimental to the rehab program or try and push her into muddy verges which again was detrimental to her recovery.
“This left me no choice but to have to move her, again causing stress on her recovery, to a suitable yard where I could successfully rehab her safely, even though this cost money when my mum had already spent thousands of pounds and hours getting planning and building correctly on our own yard.”
By Alex Seabrook, Local Democracy Reporting Service