PROPOSALS to expand a self-storage business by siting 50 containers on three-quarters-of-an acre of farmland near Wiveliscombe have drawn town council and civic society opposition.

A planning application was submitted by Farrington Farms to change the use of the land at Frys Farm, Quakinghouse Lane.

Planning agent Claire Alers-Hankey, of Greenslade Taylor Hunt, said the intention was to relocate and expand the existing Frys Farm self-storage business, which was given permission seven years ago for 15 self-storage containers.

Ms Alers-Hankey said: “The self-storage business has been very successful and there is a growing demand for additional self-storage in this location, which the applicant is unable to accommodate.

“The relocation of the self-storage containers from Frys Farm will provide an improvement to highway safety and residential amenity for the residents along Frys Lane, which is extremely narrow with no passing places.

“The proposed site would also reduce the distance that customers to the self-storage facility have to travel, with the proposed site being located much closer to the B3227.”

Ms Alers-Hankey said the next nearest similar storage facilities were in Wellington and in White Ball, on the Somerset-Devon border, which were both too far to travel from Wiveliscombe.

She said: “Frys Farm represents an excellent example of farm diversification, with the long-established cereal cropping diversifying into mixed farming with the introduction of sheep onto the holding in 2021 to improve the soil health and move to a more regenerative type of farming.

“The farming enterprise also includes the production and sale of firewood and the letting of commercial and office space in converted buildings.

“Additionally, the existing self-storage arm of the business has been based at Frys Farm since 2014.

“The applicant has slowly grown the self-storage business, for which there is a proven demand in the local area, which is represented in the increase in enquiries for self-storage space at Frys Farm.

“The self-storage units attract a range of users from domestic storage to commercial storage for locally-based small businesses.”

But Wiveliscombe Historical and Civic Society said the farm was in a totally unsustainable location and the plans failed to meet a number of national planning policy principles.

Speaking for the society, Pauline Homeshaw said: “Even with significant landscaping and planting, which would take years to mature, the site would still be highly visible from public footpaths, roads, and surrounding hills, changing the intrinsic character of the area.”

Mrs Homeshaw said the society ‘fully concurs’ with the objections made by the town council.

Town clerk Sarah Towells said councillors believed the large storage containers were totally unsuitable for the rural area and would be visible from the main B3227 road and have a detrimental impact on the landscape.

Ms Towells said the council understood a HGV business operating from Fry’s Lane in 1995 was restricted to just four lorries due to the unsuitability of the junction of Quaking House Lane with the B3227.

She said traffic movements had increased dramatically since then with a daily traffic flow in 2022 of 22,851 vehicles.