Popular Northney Farm Tearooms fights decision to allow its extension after retrospective planning permission was denied

A retrospective application has been submitted to Havant Borough Council for the use of a barn on Northney Farm, St Peter’s Road, as a tearoom and education/exhibition space. It was also to change the use of agricultural land to extend the existing car park from 25 to 36 spaces and enable the site to cater for 20 extra customers and add sound-amplifying equipment in the 350 square metre site.

Northney Farm Tearooms, set in 1.2 hectares, said the majority of customers would sit outside during the summer months and inside during the winter. Currently it has permission for 80 covers (48 internal and 32 external). The application proposes four seating areas – two internal and two external.

The council’s refused planning permission in November was on the grounds of noise and the increase in customer numbers disturbing Northney Village. It added: “It is visually intrusive and harmful to the rural setting and character of the site.

“The proposed intensification of use of the tearoom to accommodate 100 customers at the site would result in noise and disturbance that would adversely affect the quality of the living environment for neighbouring residents, detrimental to their amenity. The submitted noise impact assessment by Impact Acoustics does not adequately demonstrate that all noise sources would have no adverse impact on the nearest neighbours until 11pm at night.”

The noise assessment said, based on professional opinion and calculations, planning permission could have been granted.

But now an appeal has been lodged to the independent Planning Inspectorate in a bit to overturn that decision. The tearooms and education/exhibition space at the southern end of Northney Farm is reached from the adopted St Peter’s Road which runs north to south on the eastern side of Hayling Island. St Peter’s Road runs the full length of Northney, until it meets Copse Lane at Tye.

Documents said the dairy farm has been in Mary Pike’s family, the Wilsons, since 1952 and they manage a herd of 120 Ayrshire cows. Her brother, Simon Wilson, farms at Stoke Fruit Farm growing arable crops.

With farmers increasingly looking at diversifying, including some dairy farms across the UK selling milk straight to customers through roadside milk vending machines, planning documents said: ”The tearoom is a successful diversification of the dairy farm and has helped to support the farm through some difficult years with very poor milk prices.” According to the government website, farmers were paid 37 pence per litre in March 2024 – that is 14 pence lower than December 2022 and only 13 pence more than the average in 1995.Since 2017, the tearooms have been open to the public between 10am and 5pm Monday to Sunday and were allowed to open between 10am and 11pm three days in any week, but not a Sunday. Rules also mean that only the inside of a building can be used for customers after 6pm with no sound amplifying equipment being allowed.

During the first consultation, the application had 132 comments with 58 objections and 73 supporting. One supporter who has lived in Northney for 65 years said the road through the village has historically always been a ‘rat-run’ and the tearoom traffic a “drop in the ocean”. Other objections included increased traffic adversely affecting the rural setting, with one saying he “got run off the road”.

The date the Planning Inspectorate will decide on application APP/23/00102 has not yet been set and comments on the appeal planning application should be submitted by May 14.