Episode 2 The Planners

Britain is a green and pleasant land,

but for how long?

We're now getting to a situation where any site's worth putting a planning application in for.

After the biggest shake up of the planning system in 40 years,

the race is on to get Britain building.

If I have a house here, I'm thinking about building

a sort of Berlin Wall that's got to be at least six feet high.

So constructors are making plans.

Whoever designed that needs to be shot.

Objectors are making noises.

We've had bloody enough of it with what we got in this town

-for councillors and all the

-BLEEP

-they're putting up.

And neighbours are going to war.

We always won our battles as a family and we'll win this one.

In the firing line, shaping the country of the future

are Britain's planners.

-So, nothing happens in the hall, yes?

-No.

-Yes, no? Yes?

Thank you for letting us visit. And we'll see you on Thursday.

Another British planning cock-up, really.

Planners don't just consider what a building looks like.

They also have to weigh up its impact on the local economy

and the people that live nearby.

In the Scottish Borders,

planner Ian Aikman is dealing with an application that,

if successful, will have a big impact on the region.

The application is for a new poultry unit at Glenrath Farms,

in the north of the Borders.

It is a big scale building which will

house around 170,000 birds.

It's been a complex application and one that's been very controversial.

This is the man with the poultry plan - John Campbell,

self-made millionaire and the second biggest egg farmer in Britain.

Hi, girls. Hi, girls! They like to peck your finger.

You put your hand in the cage, they're usually like,

"Oh, that's something different."

They come and peck your finger. Nothing wrong with that.

Everyday, one and a half million eggs are laid,

packed and sent to supermarkets from his seven farms.

John now wants to add another shed to his collection.

Want to build another shed because, sadly,

the demand for organic eggs since the recession

has dropped dramatically.

And the demand for colony eggs has increased quite substantially.

so, our company motto is to give our customer what they want,

when they want it, how they want it and on time.

# Old McDonald had a farm

# And on that farm he had some hens... #

John thinks he's found the perfect site for his new shed,

just two miles down the road.

# ..and the eggs went away to the supermarkets. #

This is the farm I purchased in maybe 1970.

There was poultry houses here before!

I mean, it's not as if it's a new site.

There's the rubble that came out from it.

We've dismantled them because they were eyesores

and here we're building brand new, modern houses

and, surely, that's the right place to be where they were before.

They've been here for 40, maybe 50 years.

But John's new site has neighbours,

and all that separates them from his planned sheds is a row of trees.

Can you hear that hum?

That traffic sound you can hear is not traffic.

That's the fans from the existing sheds.

-And there's going to be 42 more.

-42 more.

42 more.

The converted 18th century farm building 150 metres away

is now home to six families

and a small but well organised protest group.

There's going to be 8,000 tons every year

of dried bird faeces being taken along a conveyor belt

and dumped into open trailers which have no protection around them to catch any of this dust

and this is flying up into the atmosphere.

There are instances of disease being exacerbated by bird faeces.

You can't see it, the dust is smaller than smoke.

-You don't know it's there and you can't get away from it.

-Mm.

So that's the biggest worry is the long-term health issues.

(Oh, chilly.)

It's going to be sited in this gap here, tall as those trees,

100 feet wide and 300 feet long,

where twice a week they'll be firing out their tons

of poultry manure into the trailers.

It beggars belief that there's

so much documented evidence that this can harm human health,

and yet making money is put before human health.

Is that not just the bottom line? I think so.

At the end of the lane lives fellow objector Angie MacDougal

and her daughter Beth.

This is Beth's bedroom.

The windows stay firmly closed in her cottage.

You can taste the smell.

It can be so bad you can taste the smell.

If I am leaving this house and it's really smelly,

the smell is still with me half an hour later

if I'm going to Penicuik or Peebles.

You can taste it, it can be so bad.

We're 70-75 metres away from where these sheds are

and where all the dust and the manure

is going to be emptied out of them.

I was brought up in the country.

I have no objections to smells, country smells,

muck spreading, animals, I keep animals,

always kept my own animals, it's the health problems

that are associated with so many birds that are my main concern.

People are justified to complain if they think they can,

but what is there to complain about?

We're complying with EU rules. We've invested 50 million

in bringing our facilities up to EU standard,

which we're very proud of.

And we take this manure away twice a week

and nobody even knows we're doing it.

And there's no smell,

there's no ammonia, there's no flies.

And there's no vermin.

Led by planner Ian Aikman, the 13 elected members

of the planning committee are about to visit

the site before deciding on its future.

Farmer John's worried the objectors will jeopardise his business.

We're surprised we're being held up for so long and it looks as

if we're going to have to cancel orders and make redundancies.

Is that the way forward for Scottish agriculture? I doubt that.

He's clearly decided he's going to argue the toss about it, so...

230 miles down the road in Cheshire,

Nial Casselden has one of the most exciting jobs in planning.

He's one of the country's 700 enforcement officers,

who investigate around 5,000 planning breaches every year.

He has the power to demolish buildings and clear land

if he thinks it's necessary.

This is an interesting site, actually, because it's where

we demolished a house last year

that had been built in the wrong place.

It was built too far back

and was causing a lot of harm to the neighbour.

I'll keep out your way.

That neighbour is Norma Jean Carter,

a stickler for detail when it comes to planning.

-You don't want me to serve a notice on that do you?

-But that's only supposed to be small.

-I said, "Please, I can't see," which you'll see from inside.

-Yeah.

For most people,

when an enforcement officer comes calling it usually spells bad news.

But not for Norma who dealt with Nial for a year over the demolition

of the neighbouring house.

-INTERVIEWER:

-Have you met Nial before then, is he a nice man? What's he like?

Nial?

-Er... Who, him? Nial?

-Yeah.

Haven't you told them about us?

I don't know what you mean(!)

-Is he a nice man?

-Yes.

I was like a terrier at a trouser leg.

This man... I'm getting upset now because he's been absolutely wonderful.

Absolutely wonderful.

I'd hug him now if we weren't on camera.

Oh, you can give me a hug. That's OK.

-Thank you, Nial.

-That's all right. That's all right.

Knocking down the neighbouring house solved Norma's big problem,

but now she has a smaller one.

Another neighbour's trees are spoiling her view.

I'm very upset that he can't understand, you know.

-I like to see the sky and the planes, you see.

-Yeah.

-You see the weeping willow?

-Yeah.

Now that is a dangerous tree.

But he's had that lopped.

One of the worst trees.

I'm not moaning about anything else, it's that alder that scares me.

Yeah, yeah.

-It's unlikely that we can justify taking formal action.

-I know, I know.

It's going to get to a point where it does justify a notice,

-which is why if we did write to him...

-So we'll leave it?

SHE SIGHS

Yeah.

Nial has decided against action this time,

but Norma's faith in his judgement is unshaken.

I trust Nial, I trust him implicitly.

I might write to the Queen anyway for the OBE.

You don't believe me, do you?

-And thank you very much.

-That's all right. You and Noel take care.

-Thank you so much.

-And we'll keep an eye on it.

-OK.

-Get back in touch if anything else happens.

-I'll take your advice and not do anything.

-OK, all right.

-Thank you.

-OK.

We're not the garden police.

If it's a situation where a garden is a bit overgrown

and perhaps there's branches overhanging a neighbour's property,

that's not really a matter we can justify intervening over.

But a potentially more serious enforcement case

has arrived on Nial's desk.

In Huxley near Chester,

a couple has reported a garden overflowing with rubbish.

The initial indications are that the condition of the property is

far worse and potentially causing significant harm to local amenities

so we're going to have to assess exactly what's on the land

and the harm that's being caused to the local area.

Sandra and Keith Rowland want Nial's help.

Their neighbour moved out of his house

but has been using the garden as a dumping ground.

There's all sorts of things.

Actually, underneath here

is asbestos sheets, tin.

There's two vehicles in there somewhere.

Keith and Sandra inherited the house from Keith's father

and have spent 20 years next to the offending garden.

I don't know what animals live here.

I wouldn't like to think.

I'm very angry.

I don't want Kew Gardens next door to me,

I just want all this cleared and some decent neighbours there.

Nationally, overgrown gardens are one of the most frequent

violations of planning rules.

It may well be that the neighbours just don't like looking at it

but that in itself isn't enough to justify us taking action.

We do have powers to take action where the condition of the land

has got so bad that it's perhaps beginning to damage property.

Only when Nial has seen the garden can he decide whether it's

time to stop sending letters, and instead send in the diggers.

With a growing population, Britain has a chronic shortage of housing.

I like downhill skiing because gravity is my friend,

going uphill is a different matter altogether.

In Stroud in Gloucestershire, planner Phil Skill needs to

find sites for 3,000 new homes over the next ten years,

without damaging the beauty of the countryside.

This is my patch. This is the bit that the community

ask me to look after for them.

So what I hope is that my children can look at Stroud and say,

"Look what a good job my dad's done,"

rather than, "I'm not going to Stroud. Look how ugly it is. My dad really messed that one up."

Tough decisions are taken every day about which fields should be

reclaimed to meet the housing shortage.

According to planning policy, the first land to be

considered for housing should be in and around built-up areas.

What we're looking at first of all is sustainability.

When petrol hits £5 a litre, people won't have to drive,

they'll be able just to walk down the road and get to the doctors,

get to the hospital, get to the shops,

without, where possible, using the car.

In the peaceful town of Minchinhampton,

there's an acre of land that could tick all Phil's boxes.

The Lemon Field is 30 seconds from the high street

and surrounded by existing buildings.

It hasn't been built upon since the Middle Ages.

But all this may be about to change.

You see there the three houses on the left, over there,

and four on the right, facing that way.

The owner of the land has put his agent, Andrew Watton,

in charge of finding a more profitable use for the Lemon Field.

Andrew has found a developer who has come up with a contemporary

looking cul-de-sac tailored to this plot.

The walnut tree stays.

There is one part to be chopped back slightly to balance it.

Three bedrooms, cottage style.

The finish is in reconstituted stone,

it's not going to be Cotswold stone.

But not everyone in Minchinhampton

is looking forward to having new neighbours.

I'm thinking about building a sort of Berlin Wall.

It's got to be at least six feet high.

I don't want people looking into my garden or my house

while I'm living here all the time.

It's just going to be like being in a goldfish bowl.

Peta Bunbury, chair of the Protect Our Space action group,

is leading the opposition from her headquarters - The Crown Pub.

-I'll take the wine.

-Oh, fiddlesticks.

We've got a number of posters A4 and A5 size.

So, we got the A5, which is easy for the little windows in Friday Street.

And then we've got the larger ones for people with big, Victorian sized windows.

Along with her neighbours, Peta has been lobbying against the development

since the day the application was submitted six weeks ago.

There's a lot of apathy in our world, and a lot of people say,

"Oh, it will be taken, Peta, one day the builders will take it."

Well, you don't stop fighting. You keep going until the last breath.

look at the gorgeous tree. You don't want to change that canopy, do you?

A lot of people who've lived here for a long time feel very protective about this field.

There's a lot of history.

To be honest, what they're proposing is going to be like any other

estate anywhere in the UK. It would be another Brookside.

You try and come up with a scheme,

which mitigates what the neighbours may perceive as the damage.

Clearly in this instance the neighbours aren't impressed by that argument

and have created a lobby which is to say that this field is a gem and should be kept.

The elected members of Stroud's council planning committee

will decide in a fortnight whether to give planning permission.

They will visit the Lemon Field with chief planner Phil Skill to weigh up both sides.

Members see it through their own eyes, and use their own filters to come to their own conclusion.

But it's perfectly legitimate that here's seven more houses off our housing supply.

It's seven we don't have to build anywhere else.

MOOING

In the Scottish Borders, the application to build

a new home for 167,000 chickens has attracted plenty of opposition.

Just a quick walk around here to let you see what we're doing, OK?

Farmer John Campbell is opening his sheds to the 13 elected

members of the local planning committee - the people who

will decide whether to let him expand his operations.

-That's the hopper to the attic to dispose of the manure.

-Yeah.

How do you control that there's no blowing away of dust at the point of transfer?

We just mix it in with the dung, because the dung is moist,

it's not absolutely dry.

Councillors have to weigh up the neighbours' health and noise fears

with the benefits for local employment.

We're going to try and imagine at the proposed site

what we have just seen here.

And think, therefore, what the impact on the local people is going to be.

The people in the area are going to be facing that for the next 20, 25 years.

But equally there's also the potential for employment in the area.

It's again that weighing up of the pros and cons of the site.

-So, the total employees on this site, John, are?

-Pardon?

-The total employees on the site?

-What's the total employment here?

At about 62, I think. 50 during the day, and then 10 cleaners at night.

My wife and I started this business with nothing

and we've now got 230 employees.

We're the largest agricultural employer in Scotland

and maybe Great Britain, something we're very proud of.

-We'll leave you with that.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Having heard from John Campbell,

it's time to see where he intends to put his new chicken shed.

Among the councillors there is a farmer, a geography teacher

and a maker of military figurines.

Objector Angie McDougall wants them

to see things from the neighbours' perspective.

I do have faith in these people looking at it from our point of view,

and asking themselves, would you want to live where I live? Would you want to bring your children up here?

And I think the answer to all those things is probably no,

so we are hoping that the planning officers

have a little bit of empathy for the residents.

Do you want me to walk you around? Would that help? Yes, OK.

Our garden is up to here and this is where we reside,

this is where our children kind of play.

So, it's quite noisy here, and that's from the fans from the existing sheds.

And those fans were replaced last year, it was an upgrade to those sheds.

And those fans are a lot noisier than they were previously,

so it's only this year that we've started to notice the noise.

And you find yourself swatting, you know, taking 20 minutes

to swat flies when you come in from work or...

You know, we have got fly screens on some of our windows that we open

because if you leave them open for too long, your house becomes infested with them.

You'll have a level of opinion for a thing or against a thing,

and it doesn't lead for popularity, and it's not democracy, planning - it's simply a judicial role.

We've been elected to make decisions, and that's what councillors have to do. It's part of the job.

-I'll leave you to it.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

It's in their hands on Monday.

One part of me feels quite confident because actually we do have a good case.

They are certainly going to be scrutinising it.

I don't know if we'll get much sleep before Monday.

Erm... But yeah, we've just got to wait till Monday.

At Cheshire West and Chester council,

senior planner Iwan Hughes looks after a team of 15 planners.

I'm from a place called Penrhyndeudraeth in North Wales, near Porthmadog.

Not far from the Portmeirion holiday village.

So, that's why I have that on my desk.

Says, "Every morning I wake up and thank the Lord I'm Welsh."

But the funny thing is, on the back it says "Made in England".

Iwan has been a planner all his working life.

He was once locked up in a property by a developer and told he wouldn't

be allowed to come out unless he revealed the name of an opponent.

Iwan never said a word.

-Do you still think in Welsh?

-Every now and again.

I dream in Welsh.

That's enough said.

WOMAN LAUGHS

Yeah. So my wife can't understand me when I shout out.

Sorry, I need to go for a wee. Compose myself.

In an area known locally as little Switzerland,

Iwan is considering an application to build a new house.

The proposal is to demolish an old cottage

and build a very modern family house.

Looks like reinforced concrete, doesn't it?

Andy and Shelly Cumming bought the cottage and the land for £250,000

and are planning to spend a further £350,000 on their new modernist home.

It was funny, when I started looking at the concept designs, you know

I would literally pull pages out of magazines and throw them on the floor.

I remember the first meeting, and Graham just looked at it and went,

"What you've got here is a sketchbook full of boxes."

And I went, "Well, actually you've got a very, very good point."

Our first task was to analyse this book that they've given us,

and find out what it was that makes them tick.

Try and get under their skin and understand them as clients, really.

That's the first job that an architect needs to do.

I like a lot of glass, and I think the thing that we've got with this house

that I'm really pleased and excited about is the space both at the front and at the back,

so we can let the outside in. And I think the guys have done a great job in getting that for us.

You know, we're a family, we like the light.

We feel better in light surroundings.

And the modern buildings with bigger windows with more space inside

-and outside, a good flow through the house, is what we aspire to.

-Yeah.

The timing is good for Andy and Shelly,

as there is a shortage of houses in Cheshire.

Years ago you'd have to ask the question whether something was good enough to be approved.

But now it's a case of is it bad enough to be refused?

On his way to meet Iwan, Andy stops off to chat with a future neighbour.

-Is it funny meeting applicants?

-I love it.

It's the interaction with the customer.

In effect, you test your own skills, don't you?

Your people skills. You've got to have a bit of humour about yourself.

Thanks, Sue. Bye, now.

-Hello, how are you?

-Hi, Andy. All right?

-Hi, I'm Iwan.

-Hi, Iwan, I'm Andy. Are you OK?

-Yeah, thanks.

-Good stuff. I'm sorry I'm a little bit late.

Yeah, well, I'm used to it. ANDY LAUGHS

-I'm always on time.

-Are you?

-Yeah. ANDY LAUGHS

I'm going to take my sunglasses off.

-So, the house would start, say, about here.

-OK.

Roughly about this sort of space.

-So, about... Close on four metres back from where it is now?

-Possibly, yeah. Roughly.

It's going to start there, it'll go into this wall.

We'll put a new retaining wall, and then what we'd like to do is try and take the view,

so we're going to point it into this space to take the whole of this view,

so that we're not overlooking anybody.

And what we want to do, as well, were going to try

-and make it quite eco, as well.

-OK.

-So we'll have rainwater harvesting.

-OK.

We'd use that for washing machines and toilets and things like that.

We'd have flat solar panels on it.

So ideally we're going to try and make it passive house standard.

So that's, in a nutshell, I suppose, what we're trying to do.

Yeah. You going to stop holidaying abroad, as well? ANDY LAUGHS

I think it's good, it's refreshing.

It doesn't jar in terms of its impact on the landscape.

It's a cracking opportunity, isn't it?

-You can see the important part - Wales.

-Yeah, absolutely.

-Whereabouts in Wales are you from?

-A place called Penrhyndeudraeth.

-Oh, right, yeah. I was only in Porthmadog a few...

-THEY LAUGH

Planners are legally obliged to tell neighbours

when an application comes in.

Their views must be considered on any planning decision.

And in this case, neighbours don't agree with the planners.

Six, I think. I think we've got six objections.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths with these, I think.

A lot of people are nervous about the design, and I can

understand why they might be nervous about the design, but they shouldn't be.

We're not trying to build a carbuncle,

we're actually trying to build something that we think

is really beautiful, and want to make it a sustainable family home. We're trying to push the boundary.

-Be positive, we'll keep going.

-Yes.

-We'll keep going, and we'll hopefully get there eventually.

-It's 13 weeks today.

-Is when we put a planning application in?

-Yeah.

-And a year since we bought the plot.

-SHE LAUGHS

-It's been a delight. We'd recommend it to anyone.

-HE LAUGHS

In the middle of the Cotswold town of Minchinhampton,

plans to build houses on the ancient Lemon Field

have not gone down well with the locals.

Off we go again, get out and see the world.

Led by planner Phil Skill, committee members need to see

the site before making their decision on the proposals.

Could you just pop to the pub and say, fashionably late, we'll be there in a mo?

-I will.

-Thank you so much.

Chief protester Peta Bunbury wants to show the councillors how strong local opposition is.

-Do you know this gentleman?

-No, I don't.

Oh, he's in the middle of carrying something.

Excuse me, would you be so good as to put some notices in your window?

-Oh, sure, yes.

-Because they are coming round.

-There'll be a site visit.

-Site visit.

-Right. By the council?

-By the council planning.

-Right, yeah.

-We are not allowed to talk to them. It's a closed meeting.

But we are allowed to be very visual in our objection, put it that way.

-So we are planning to be very visual and get posters up in everybody's house.

-Sure, yeah.

Oh, keep running!

-Have you done your objection yet, Ange?

-About to, yeah!

-About to!

I'll be watching.

Mrs Weller, how are you?

-Now, you've got a lot of windows.

-Yes.

-How many?

-One per pane.

One per pane?

-Well, that wouldn't leave you with an awful lot...

-Of light!

-Wouldn't that be lovely? To deface their windows with the posters.

-Lots of posters.

-So, I put posters in Walls the electrician's. Taylor's the butcher's.

-Good.

Thanks to Peta's press work, news of the Lemon Field campaign has spread all over the Cotswolds.

It's quite interesting that there is a large walnut tree there at the moment.

My friend Arthur, he used to look after a horse just two fields away,

so, we were often up in that area. I don't remember a tree at all.

But, of course, that was 60 years ago, and it may have just been a sapling.

Like many locals, Richard Pond has also been putting pen to paper.

But instead of writing a letter, he's written a tune.

My letter to the council said, well, I have a piece of music.

It tries to give the mystery of the place,

but also a certain amount of sadness, because if they are going to

build houses on that ground, then it's a shame, really.

So, here we go. Lemon Fields.

HE PLAYS 'LEMON FIELDS'

The 13 committee members have arrived at the Lemon Field.

Among them are a mother of eight, a teacher and a former mayor.

Members?

So, to orientate ourselves, the tree here. Trunk.

It's a full application,

and these are the sorts of things that are proposed.

Can I just understand, what is the status of this field?

Well, the status is agricultural.

-Cos it's obviously not...

-It doesn't have any planning permission as such.

It's a significant field because basically

it's the last field in the village.

And I think that has touched, you know, everyone's imagination, really.

Obviously people are very concerned.

We take note of what they're saying.

We take that into consideration next week, yeah.

Councillors have to consider local objection,

but it's not always a reason to refuse planning permission.

I'm not against development.

In fact, I think that there is often quite a lot of scope

for modern buildings that are well-designed.

Because, you know, it's the way that urban areas have developed over the centuries.

as new styles come in, they put new styles in, and you've got Georgian and Regency and whatever,

all next door to one another.

I don't know whether people used to complain in the old days

-about, "Oh! This is too modern!"

-HE LAUGHS

MUSIC: "Lemon Fields" by Richard Pond

The town of Minchinhampton must wait another two weeks to discover the fate of its Lemon field.

HE PLAYS FINAL CHORD

Finishing with a question mark.

In Cheshire, chief enforcement officer Nial Casselden also

has a big decision to make.

He has the power to forcibly clear an overgrown garden,

and efforts to contact the owner have failed.

Nial is off to meet neighbour Sandra Rowland.

Hi, there. Nial Casselden. I'm the planning enforcement manager.

So, I've really just come to have a look at the property next door.

-I mean, how long has it been like this for?

-20 years?

-Really? Right, right.

-My father-in-law used to live here and he went to Australia to see my sister-in-law.

-Right.

-When he got back, they were there.

-They were there.

-I haven't a clue what's inside it.

-Right.

-I would hate to think, personally, what is in there.

-Yeah, yeah.

So, how often does the property owner come here?

He doesn't, unless he comes in the middle of the night.

-So, when's the last time that you think he came here?

-I haven't got a clue.

-Right, OK.

Nial must assess the impact of the garden on Mrs Rowland's house

before he makes a decision on clearance.

I mean, you don't really get the full horror of the site unless you're looking above it,

cos it's so well screened by the mature vegetation, it's hard to tell.

You've got a caravan, an old van, a horsebox.

Various other things you can't even see.

-But as you can see, we try very hard to keep our side looking so lovely.

-Yeah, yeah.

OK, all right. We'll definitely be in touch about this.

It must be a living nightmare, really.

After the meeting, Nial thinks it's finally time to act.

We've tried to make contact with the owner, we've left letters, and we haven't got anywhere.

Probably on average we only really do maybe one, possibly two clearances a year,

but where they continually ignore us, and where the land in question is in a really bad condition,

we have to step in and we have to take action.

Also in Cheshire, Andy and Shelly's plans for their modern home have hit a snag.

Neighbours in Little Switzerland have seen the modern, flat-roofed design.

Unlike the Swiss, renowned for being neutral, the Little Swiss are taking sides.

They have objected. They've strongly objected, in fact.

They're entitled to their view.

I personally feel that it's going to enhance the lane rather than detract it,

but other people hold a different view, and they are entitled to that view.

The parish council are leading the opposition,

along with the county councillor.

This area was designed by Cheshire County Council

as an area of special landscape value.

And while I wouldn't want to discourage new ideas,

some buildings just don't belong.

The formal objections mean the application must

go before the county planning committee,

rather than be decided by the planner alone.

-CHILDREN CHATTER

-Andy and Shelley have asked to put their case to the parish council.

I can show them on here. I am going to rock up, have a chat to them about those things

and see if I can persuade them to reconsider their decision.

Are you going to be good for me? Nice and quiet?

We're going to go to the meeting and talk about our new house.

Only if we can have the iPad.

-Do you think Daddy might want the iPad?

-But after Daddy finish.

That sounds like a good deal. You can have it after Daddy has finished.

-Great, you're just going to sit quietly and listen to Daddy.

-CHILDREN CHATTER

My name is Andy Cumming, as Alan has just kindly introduced.

We've got a planning application on the hillside,

and we're just a little bit frustrated... Not frustrated.

Concerned, I suppose, about some misconceptions.

And there are a number of things that we feel perhaps allay

some of those concerns that some of the objectors have.

We don't want to build a nasty carbuncle,

we want to build a really sustainable family home,

and we are not trying to bulldoze people, and we're just trying

to go about it in the right way and engage with everybody.

So, thank you for giving me that opportunity to talk to you. Thank you.

But the parish council has already made up their mind.

With so many objectors, the house is going to planning committee.

Most cases we don't get any correspondence whatsoever.

On this occasion, residents came and actually

spoke at the parish council meeting, and that's what we based our view on.

The parish council has to listen to what local residents want,

and they have to act on that.

They are lovely people, they are going to be our neighbours.

-They are, absolutely.

-But they are not architects, they are not designers, they're not builders.

And not everybody can read plans and really read into a design document.

They are just determined to take it to a planning committee

because they want to object it, and they feel that's their best route.

-And it's a shame that it has to be adversarial when it could be engaged.

-Yeah, it is.

A decision on the house will be made by the planning committee in six weeks.

In the Scottish Borders, farmer John Campbell's proposals for a four million pound

chicken shed are about to be considered by the planning committee.

Neighbours have been lobbying against the shed for months.

We've come down here today hoping that a sensible decision

will be made about the planning application, we can only hope that

the decision is made sensibly, taking health issues into concern.

We have really strong arguments about health concerns, about noise, about smells.

I think we have a really good case.

The meeting starts with a report on John's application from the environmental health officer.

On the information I have received to date,

there are no obvious flaws with any of the modelling

that has been put before the committee in respect to the air quality.

As regards the fugitive dusts, non-process related noise, fugitive odours, flies,

I'm satisfied that the information that's been provided to the committee demonstrates adequate control.

The officer is happy the shed won't have an impact on neighbours' health.

In Scotland, neither applicant nor objector are allowed to make

their argument at committee, so it's straight to debate by the council.

-Councillor Moffat?

-I would support this if it had been on a better site,

but I don't think that this site is the right site.

-So you are moving refusal?

-Yes.

Councillor Ballantyne?

I just wanted to clarify or to check that in terms of risk to

human health, I presume you'd accept liability for any miscalculation of that,

if there is subsequently any effect on human health.

We are required to assess all air quality in the Borders

each and every year, and report on that to the government,

and these premises would be part and parcel of that assessment process.

I think, from my perspective, I could support the application.

Chairman, I think we've been focusing very much on the amenity

of the residents of the area, quite rightly.

But there is the consequence to the business

and to the employment of the area if the application is refused.

After 40 minutes of discussion, and a split of opinion amongst the committee,

the application is put to the vote.

For approval of the application, can I have a show of hands for that first, please?

Nine. And to refuse the application?

-Three. So, the application is approved.

-Thank you.

The vote ends overwhelmingly in favour of John Campbell's new chicken shed.

That's a very easy decision to make for people who do not live so close to these sheds.

What they didn't consider was there is an existing problem

-even with that shed.

-Without the new shed.

-There is smell, there is noise, and there is flies.

-And dust.

-And dust.

And they kept saying that the new sheds will make it better,

but no-one talked about the existing noise and how the cumulative effect...

-We've been let down by the planning committee today.

-Yeah.

The nature of the planning system is that you're making decisions that will impact on people's lives,

so obviously they are going to be passionate

in terms of their reaction to the decision that's taken.

You've got to reconcile the lifestyle

of the nearby residents along with the economic

and employment opportunities offered by the new shed.

I think that we got the balance right.

The council have been very fair,

and they've got on well. I got on very well with the planning people

because they know that we're creating jobs, bringing enterprise in the area.

This is what the whole concept is. The little egg, the humble egg.

The incredible, edible egg.

Hi, girls.

The heart of Minchinhampton in the Cotswolds is the target of

a controversial plan to build a modern cul-de-sac

on an ancient undeveloped site called The Lemon field.

There was a very interesting episode of Top Gear where Mr Clarkson

tries to get a Hummer through the centre of Chipping Norton.

Well, he wouldn't have made it through here.

Stroud council have a shortage of 3,000 homes.

Phil Skill needs to decide whether Minchinhampton's Lemon Field is the place to build.

There's almost like a window of opportunity for developers this year.

Developers come forward with these sites that a year, 18 months ago we'd have said,

"No, go away," and they would have said, "Yeah, fair dos, I'm going to walk away from it."

We are now getting to a situation where any site is not quite fair game,

but it's worth asking the question and putting a planning application in for.

I'm not the tallest of people, but I can certainly see the open space that's provided by the field itself,

and the stonking great walnut tree, which I'm very concerned about.

It hasn't been built on in the last 300 or 400 years,

and therefore it's very important that we look at whether or not

it should cease to be a field in the next few years,

or whether it should continue to be a field for the next 200 to 300 years.

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS There we go.

I can't blame people for wanting to make money out of their assets,

everybody wants to do things like that,

but, you know, it's a bit like knocking down Gloucester Cathedral

to put up a multi-storey car park. You know, there are some things that really

you ought to think twice before you try and do them.

-MOOING

-Come on, girlies.

With just a week to go before the planning committee meeting,

Minchinhampton organic farmer Melissa Ravenhill has made

a last-ditch attempt to save The Lemon Field.

You know, The Lemon Field would be great for us to use as grazing

for young cattle, but also to have them in Minchinhampton,

because we're part of Minchinhampton,

we are producing food for Minchinhampton people to eat.

My husband and I have already approached the owner via his agent,

to ask if we could get the grazing on the land, and he respectfully said,

"No, sorry, we want to maintain the status quo." I mean, those were his actual words in the e-mail.

It's only one acre.

so, it's hard to see how it fits into modern farming practice.

The reality is, it's a lot less hassle to have nobody on the land.

MOOING

I just thank God it's not a Tesco going on there.

That wouldn't surprise me. And that would be...

I think we'd just lie down in the road in front of the earthmovers if that was the case.

I would, anyway.

At the end of his visit, Phil Skill has finally made his mind up

and decided on his recommendation.

I drove up, and ambivalent is probably the wrong word.

But I was either way.

I can see what the community are saying, I can see what the developer is saying.

but not only have got some stunning trees like the walnut tree,

the field itself has got its own flora and fauna that's associated with it,

and all that would be lost with the development.

Seven homes in the right place is great.

Seven in the wrong place is wrong.

We've got the good, the bad, and the ugly.

And perhaps here we are getting towards the bad end of that spectrum.

Now it will be the developer's job to convince the planning committee

that building on The Lemon Field should go ahead.

In Huxley, Cheshire, the time has come to clear the untidy garden.

This is finally it, we get to clear the site.

It's a nice day for it, as well.

Despite repeated letters, the owner has failed to clear the site himself.

He's got all the mail. I bet our notice is in there.

There you are, there's my notice.

I suppose we ought to keep that.

It's never nice when you have to go in and take action,

because we hope that we can sort out problems without having to do this.

Legally we are entitled to go onto the land as he's failed to comply with the notice

and carry out the clearance.

The items, as far as we're concerned, are all waste.

-Another minibus!

-Another minibus?!

Hidden in the overgrown garden, the contractors find four Sherpa vans,

two Morris Minors, a Ford Transit van, a Hillman Hunter,

one caravan, one horsebox,

three small trailers and a Ford Anglia.

They also remove 30 bicycles, 700 tyres, 30 bus seats,

engines, mechanical parts and electrical items among tons of rubbish.

But they still haven't seen the one thing they really hoped to find - the homeowner.

If he does appear, he'll face a £7,000 clearance bill.

Are you ever surprised by what you see?

No. I've been in the building trade now for 38... No. 40, 50... Bloody hell, how many years?

47 years. 47 years.

No, I'm not surprised any more. I used to be when I was a young lad, but not any more. No.

This is just dead vehicles, and we've seen dead bodies.

I think it's absolutely amazing. Can't believe it's actually started.

After all this time, now it's all about to go. Wonderful!

At Cheshire West and Chester County Council, planner Iwan Hughes

is desperately trying to get hold of applicant Andy Cumming.

ANSWER SERVICE: 'Hello, you've reached Andy Cumming.

'Unfortunately, I'm out of the office now...'

There is news about his modern house application,

which was due to be discussed at the next planning committee.

The matter is so urgent that Iwan has spent the last hour trying to get through to Andy.

-It's not going to committee, then?

-No.

-Why?

Because Councillor Leather, who originally called it in,

has considered all the issues and feels that

the application wouldn't benefit from going to planning committee.

-What's his name again?

-Andy Cummings.

The strongest opponent to Andy's modern house, Councillor Leather,

has read a landscape assessment that he commissioned on the case.

Two particular points came out of that.

The first was that the designation of special landscape value

has been somewhat downgraded by other policies,

and the second was the view that there was no predominant

character against which this style of building could be judged.

As a result, Councillor Leather has withdrawn the request

to debate this case at planning committee, and planner Iwan

will decide on his own whether to approve or refuse the application.

-'Hi, is that Iwan?'

-Hi.

-'Hi, Iwan, it's Andy. You OK?'

Yes, fine thanks. I just got some...

Wanted to update you on some news about your planning application.

'Oh, right, OK.'

Whilst you were off, I spoke to the ward councillor, John Leather...

-'Yes.'

-..and basically the upshot is that he has withdrawn his call in.

-'Has he?'

-Yeah.

-'And are you still planning for recommendation, Iwan?'

Yes, refusal. No, sorry, approval.

-'Approval?'

-Yeah.

-'Wonderful! That's wonderful news!'

-'Brilliant! Brilliant!'

-OK.

-'That's made my day!'

-Has it? Oh, that's good.

-'Thanks. Take care, Iwan. Thanks for your help.'

-Cheers. Thanks. Bye.

'Cheers, fella. Bye-bye.'

OK. Job done.

Winners and losers in planning, aren't there? For everyone that's happy...

Yeah, winners and losers in life, isn't there? It's the same thing.

You could end up losing your hair or, you know, end up being a loser and keeping it.

-ANDY LAUGHS

-Nice(!)

The beaming smiles say it all. It's unbelievable, isn't it?

I jumped up and down in the office, and shrieked a little bit.

-I have a new job. They now think I'm very strange.

-SHE LAUGHS

But now the fun starts!

CHEERING

Oh! That wasn't even as good a one as before!

After eight months spent living in rented accommodation,

Andy and his family can now look forward to moving out.

ANDY LAUGHS

RAIN FALLS ON LEAVES

In the Cotswolds town of Minchinhampton,

it's the eve of the big day for Peta's campaign group Protect Our Space.

We ask you to refuse this application,

to save our conservation area and AONB and protect our walnut tree.

Tomorrow, the planning committee meets in Stroud to decide

whether to grant permission to build seven houses on The Lemon Field.

TIMER BEEPS That's tight. Three seconds.

Let me have one more go. What I want to do is take away the Queen's English,

the "I'm standing up presenting to".

-I don't know.

-I don't think you should muck around with that, frankly.

-I wouldn't.

We've got three minutes to get our message over.

It's probably the most important three minutes

out of the whole eight weeks that we've been doing all this work,

because we're going to be sitting there in front of

12 people, and we have to get our points across

so when they come to vote, they'll go, "Hmm, this should be refused."

Can you teach me your timer, and then I'll have a go doing a few myself?

You're not having eggs in the morning are you, Fi?

-LAUGHTER

-Can see what she's doing.

-DOG TOY SQUEAKS

-I'll probably go through it once. And that'll be it.

Don't do a two o'clock in the morning, Peta.

Oh, God, I promise you, I will be going to bed at about 11 o'clock,

because I'm up at crack of sparrow's.

Thanks very much, chaps, that's great.

Can't get out! SHE LAUGHS

Not only could she not sort out an egg timer...

Right, the top one is to the right, and the bottom one is to the left.

Of course(!)

-All right, good night, everybody.

-See you tomorrow.

-See you tomorrow.

-Good night, guys.

-Bye!

-OK.

-Hey ho, Louie-Lou!

-DOG TOY SQUEAKS

The following day at Stroud council.

Peta has been arrived an hour early bringing seven copies of her speech,

just in case.

The piece of laminated is just so that when you get clammy hands it doesn't matter.

Again, it's that planning ahead business, isn't it?

This is a planning Olympics, we could say, and we're going to come out gold.

-Hello. How was your day?

-Fine, fine. Absolutely fine.

-Oh, gosh! I've left the car wide open!

-That was very clever of me(!)

Before the debate opens, the developers will make the case for construction,

and Peta will make her case for refusal.

The developers are now facing popular opposition

as well as a recommendation for refusal from chief planning officer Phil Skill.

Would anybody like to speak who opposes the application?

For Peta, the most important three minutes of the last eight weeks have arrived.

The Lemon Field is the last remaining undeveloped green space within the conservation area.

It is integral to the historic core of Minchinhampton.

We ask you to refuse this application to save our

conservation area and AONB, and to protect our walnut tree,

-not just for us, but for future generations.

-Thank you.

Is there anyone who would like to speak in support of the application?

Please.

My name is Tony Doyle, and I'm the agent for the application.

It is acknowledged that there is some local opposition to the scheme.

This is not unusual, and as you are aware, local opposition in itself

is not sufficient justification for refusing planning permission.

The application is supported by a thorough landscape and visual appraisal,

we therefore urge you not to accept

your officer's recommendation this evening, and grant planning permission.

It's time for the councillors to decide

whether Minchinhampton will be acquiring a modern cul-de-sac.

How far do we allow our developments to be influenced

by the decisions that were taken by our ancestors?

I shall be voting against.

It's the design in particular that makes this application particularly bad.

It's a very unkempt, overgrown piece of space.

I would find it difficult to support refusal,

but design and materials, Bradstone in the middle of Minchinhampton?

No, thank you.

There is no other debate? Then we go to the vote.

There is refusal on the table as the officer recommendation,

and as amended, please show.

-Unanimous.

-That is unanimous.

Just for the record and for the avoidance of doubt,

the application has been refused as the officer's recommendation.

Unanimous refusal!

-Peta, do you want to say something now? How do you feel about that?

-Emotional!

-Yeah.

-The Lemon field is just... Sorry.

-No!

MUSIC: "Lemon Fields" by Richard Pond

Just tired. I'm tired.

But that's just brilliant, and what's so wonderful is people do recognise that

there are these little gems, these little parcels of land,

and if they'd let this go through, it would have actually impacted

lots of other conservation and AONB areas,

so, I have to say thank you very much, councillors. We love you to bits.

It's been a long day. Yeah, I'll have to go and wind down a little.

No doubt I'll have to watch a bit of mindless American junk on the television,

just to calm down a bit, and a bit of hot milk.

I doubt.

Next time, planners clash with a religious community over expansion plans.

We desperately need a bigger place and better place.

This is the future for our community's teenagers.

The biggest frustration with it is that they are not willing to negotiate and not willing to listen.

In Cheshire, a property developer gambles it all on a multi-million pound housing scheme.

We've got a house up for sale. If this doesn't happen this time, it won't work.

We couldn't carry on with the business. Everything goes. It's the end of the line.

And in Cheltenham, neighbours go to war over a two-foot fence.

I don't see how it really affects him in his day-to-day life.

He actually has signed a piece of paper to say not to erect a wall or fence.

What's he done? Erected a wall and fence.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd