Arable farmer embroiled in council reservoir planning row

A Lancashire arable farmer has been issued with a stop notice and enforcement notice on the same day, five months after work began to build a reservoir on his land to irrigate crops. 

Mr Molyneux who owns a 43ha arable farm in Downholland, West Lancashire, says the borough council is now demanding that building work stops immediately, despite being given permission.

See also: Analysis: What is being done to secure water resources for UK farmers?

He believes building the reservoir would increase the water security for his farm.

It would allow him to harvest water over the winter to irrigate his crops in the hotter summer months.

Mr Molyneux had been paying the Canal and River Trust £1,000 a year for a licence to abstract water from the Leeds-Liverpool Canal.

But if he had his own reservoir, this would remove the need to abstract water from a finite source.

Building a reservoir would also bring added benefits for wildlife and attract all types of water birds, such as kingfisher and great crested grebes, said Mr Molyneux, who also owns Mescar Fisheries, which comprises three 1.6ha coarse fishing lakes.

“I can’t believe Lancashire County Council has told us to stop building the reservoir when we’re already five months into the construction,” he said.

“We were given permission by West Lancashire Borough Council to build the reservoir and we ticked all the boxes for the removal of sand as part of the excavation.”

However, Lancashire County Council has told Mr Molyneux he needs retrospective planning permission to remove about 10,000t of sand in order to make a clay bund to form the reservoir.

And because the planning permission is retrospective, he must pay double – £4,400 instead of £2,200.

Mr Molyneux had planned to hire a specialist soil and compost removal company to excavate the sand for free.

The sand would then be used for groundworks around the county.

The farmer has even bought £1,000 worth of wildflower seed mix to sow on the banks of the reservoir once construction is finished.

“Building a reservoir has huge benefits for wildlife. The wildflowers and the planting is great for the bugs, bees, beetles and other pollinators,” he added.

© Andrew Molyneux

Council response

Lancashire County Council told Farmers Weekly Mr Molyneux was rightly given permission by West Lancashire Borough Council under permitted development rights to excavate minerals and build a reservoir for irrigation purposes on his land.

But a county council spokesperson said Mr Molyneux needs planning permission to remove the minerals from the site.

“The landowner has not complied with this condition and has not acquired the necessary planning permission to carry out these activities,” said the spokesman.

“In addition, we have received complaints from residents about the numbers of HGVs exporting sand from the site along a single-track road that runs alongside a number of houses.”

However, Mr Molyneux said he initially asked West Lancashire Borough Council if he needed planning permission to remove the minerals from site and they said no, as long as he kept the majority of the materials on site – which is what he is doing.

“Everything I have done has been above board and straightforward, but they moved the goalposts,” he added.

Last week, prime minister Rishi Sunak pledged during the government’s UK Farm to Fork Summit to cut burdensome red tape holding back farmers back from delivering projects on their land.