Future of Tournerbury estate wedding venue still undecided after planning application is deferred

Havant borough councillors decided they needed more information to determine a retrospective planning application for the Tournerbury Estate on Hayling Island.

NOW READ: University of Portsmouth seeks permission to demolish two buildings

The venue has attracted criticism for breaching planning control, alleged ecological damage to the woods and the use of an access route that goes through a neighbouring farm.

Speaking to the planning committee, Sue Phillips, of Tournerbury Farm said: ‘We are a farm and there are tractors and heavy farm equipment moving through and around the yard most days.

‘We have had unaccompanied children playing in the hay/straw barns while their parents enjoy the wedding.

‘This is dangerous and unacceptable; every year children are killed on farms and the worry of this is overpowering at times.’

Council officers recommended refusing the application as they considered the access route ‘not appropriate in planning terms’ for a wedding and events venue.

Tournerbury Woods is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Protected Area and a Special Area of Conservation.

In an opposing deputation, local resident Professor Jonathan Raper said: ‘The applicant has known perfectly well for almost a decade that he had no planning permission for his wedding venue.

‘Several previous applications have been refused, and the council served an enforcement notice in 2020, which should normally mean the end of illegal planning developments.

‘The council then made a secret non-prosecution agreement with the applicant by which the enforcement notice was set aside and this further application for the same site was allowed – in breach of the council’s enforcement policy.’

In a supporting deputation, the applicant’s agent Haydn Morris said: ‘There is no evidence before the committee that no use is the only solution and therefore we add a point of finding a compromise.

‘It is that compromise discussion that has yet to take place and we request that the committee determination be deferred to allow an appropriate level of use to be conditioned.

‘The deferment would also allow Tournerbury Farm the opportunity to approach the applicant with a reasonable like-for-like offer for an alternative access route which we would all prefer.’

Councillors then voted to defer deciding the application so that more details on traffic and the feasibility of an alternative access route can be discussed in a revised planning application.

Last week estate owner Christopher Snell said: ‘Like many rural diversified businesses across the country, the venue grew organically until such time that we agreed with Havant Borough Council that it was appropriate to regularise the business (in planning terms) through a planning application.

‘If the retrospective planning application is refused at committee then that decision will be appealed to the Planning Inspector to take it out of the hands of local political pressure, and then further to that, should the appeal outcome be negative, through the judicial process.’