Planning refused as keeper tries to expand game farm

A gamekeeper has been refused permission to make changes to his gamebird business after the Hereford Wildlife Trust claimed his application was “incomplete and misleading”. 

Gareth Morgan was previously refused permission for an existing worker’s mobile home and barn at Nacklestone Farm in north Herefordshire. In October 2023 Mr Morgan applied for permission to use adjoining land for rearing gamebirds and for egg production. 

A statement accompanying Mr Morgan’s application said his Black Bridge Game business involved producing over 33,000 gamebird eggs in a season and claimed he faced “problems on several occasions with somebody opening a shed and letting birds out”. However, Leintwardine Parish Council said it could not support his bid, as there had been no consent to change the land use. 

The council also said there was no assessment of ecological impact on the adjacent river Teme, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, nor was there information on how waste from the game rearing was to be managed. Full planning permission was refused but Mr Morgan is able to appeal the decision. 

Mr Morgan is also currently appealing an enforcement notice served by Herefordshire Council in August 2023, requiring him to remove the mobile home. The Council has meanwhile been asked whether it intends to take enforcement action against the business.