The difficulty accessing the college in the countryside has sparked a bitter planning row
The college is down the bottom of Mill Lane, which locals say is dangerous(Image: Google )
Neighbours have complained about a dangerous lane leading to an animal care college near Bristol that they say causes road rage and car crashes. The college provides a “lifeline” education for teenagers with special needs but now faces a threat due to a planning row.
Peopleton Brook Farm, south of Chipping Sodbury, lies at the end of a narrow country lane with few passing places. Post-16 students can get a qualification in animal care there, as well as learning “life skills” lessons.
The college is applying for planning permission from South Gloucestershire Council to use the site as a “care farm”. Currently the permission is only for agricultural use, so the planning application is retrospective.
This has prompted a flurry of complaints from people living nearby, who say that Mill Lane is too narrow for all the students being driven back and forth. The plans will be considered by councillors on the development management committee on Thursday, June 12.
Writing to the council, one neighbour said: “As a resident of Mill Lane I regularly walk, drive, ride and cycle along the lane at all times of the day. I almost always meet a minibus, taxi or visitor’s car during the week, but not at the weekend. The care farm and any other business ventures do and will cause regular and unnecessary congestion on Mill Lane.
“It has become very dangerous, with a number of accidents reported and even more near misses. The lane is not suitable access for a care farm.”
Another neighbour added: “The state of the lane is appalling with very deep pot holes, no passing places, apart from residents’ driveways, and very uneven surfaces. As a result of this I’ve had to get a new suspension and parts for my car.
“The traffic on the lane is a living nightmare as the time I leave for work is the time when all the workers at PBF come into work so I encounter lots of stand offs where people won’t reverse or simply cannot reverse or want to use my private driveway as a passing place. I have witnessed a crash which involved the applicant’s daughter and a PBF worker where the air bags went off.”
On the other hand, several parents wrote in support of the farm, which they say “makes a huge difference” to their children. Only a few people live along Mill Lane, while the countryside setting helps many teenagers with special educational needs, who tend to benefit from being around nature and working with animals.
One parent said: “My daughter has been attending the farm when they first started doing pony days, and now she attends there as a student four days a week. She has severe learning disabilities and it has made a huge difference to her life. Her communication has improved along with her wellbeing.”
“The work they do there is very important to a group of young adults who struggle to or are unable to access mainstream [education]. It gives them purpose and adds value to their day-to-day lives. It would be a shame for a few to ruin it for the many.”
According to applicants, there are 50 children and young adults who use the college regularly, but no more than 25 visit on any day. Also at the farm are ponies, horses, alpacas, goats, sheep and pigs. Local schools are also supporting the application, given the lack of alternative learning provision across the wider area for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
But there were other reasons for the public objections too. One neighbour said the traffic to the college was affecting her horse’s post-surgery rehabilitation programme. They said: “The sheer amount of traffic to and from PBF meant I had to either rush which was detrimental to the rehab program or try and push her into muddy verges which again was detrimental to her recovery.
“This left me no choice but to have to move her, again causing stress on her recovery, to a suitable yard where I could successfully rehab her safely, even though this cost money when my mum had already spent thousands of pounds and hours getting planning and building correctly on our own yard.”