Councillors have gone against planning officers’ recommendations and given the go-ahead for a farm near Lymm to use some buildings for employment purposes.

Officers said the proposal to bulldoze one building at Agden Brook Farm, off Lymm Road, and use others for activities such as research and development, industrial processes and general industrial use, went against planning policies.

They said it was inappropriate development in the green belt and that the proposal would remove the existing farmyard appearance and detract from the rural character and setting of the site.

At today’s (Wednesday) meeting of Cheshire East’s northern planning committee, planning officer Rob Law said, because it was difficult to know what type of businesses would be making use of the units, it made it difficult to know exactly what the impact would be so officers had to make their recommendations based on the worst case scenario.

The applicant’s son-in-law told the committee the agricultural use would still continue but had been scaled down and the farm now needed to diversify and use these redundant buildings.

Cllr Ken Edwards (Bollington, Lab) said:  “I really feel this is a deeply practical proposal in difficult business circumstances where you need to make the maximum use of your resources.

“Yes, it is in a rural area but it’s not like building 200 houses in a rural area, which Cheshire East is perfectly happy to do if it gets the opportunity.”

He proposed the application be approved, with conditions and this was seconded by Macclesfield councillor David Edwardes (Ind).

Cllr Fiona Wilson (Macclesfield, Lab) said: “It seems to me that what the applicants are trying to do is move on and develop this farming area to meet the modern requirements for employment, as many farms in our area are doing.”

Committee chair David Jefferay (Wilmslow, Ind) said: “I think the harm is very limited and I think that can easily be outweighed by the fact that if this building isn’t repurposed then it’s going to fall into dereliction.”

He also thought there would be more than the stated 15 jobs created.

“To me it’s quite a simple decision, but we’re constrained by policy which forces us to look for exceptional circumstances when we shouldn’t need to,” said Cllr Jefferay.

Eleven committee members voted in favour of approving the scheme and one abstained.

The special circumstances which councillors said permitted the development, was it involves the re-use and retention of existing buildings, the retention of existing employment and potential for future employment and the farm diversification.

A number of conditions were also imposed, including hours of working and no external storage associated with the business to be outside the buildings.