Brocksbushes Farm Shop expansion

Having built up a successful farm shop, café and PYO business over 25 years, the family behind Brocksbushes Farm Shop in Northumberland came to Rural Solutions to help them achieve their goals for growth of their existing business. They knew that to enable this growth they needed to develop enhanced premises and infrastructure and understood that to do this would require a major redevelopment and expansion of the site – a tricky proposition in green belt.

We were able to create and deliver a successful planning strategy that evidenced the benefits of the scheme and a clear very special circumstances case in green belt. We developed a functional and sensitive architectural design, and obtained planning consent to ensure this rural business survives and thrives for generations to come.

Objective

To enable the growth of a successful, family-run farm shop business through the expansion and redevelopment of the site to accommodate a new, modernised retail unit, a café and a play barn alongside the existing PYO business.

Approach

The site is situated in green belt, so the planning and design strategy needed to consider how to create a bigger set of buildings while blending them into the landscape. The proposed scheme featured traditional forms and a courtyard setting, reminiscent of local farmsteads. The courtyard provides an effective device that helps to group the various uses in discrete entities while giving the whole a clear identity which can be easily navigated.

A strong very special circumstances case had to be presented to the local authority. The planning application presented the scheme with a clear narrative on how its design had been considered to minimise landscape impact and use an appropriate vernacular, how traffic and access considerations would be met, along with a statement of evidence to support the economic and community benefit that would be delivered through the creation of jobs, attraction of visitors and associated spend locally, as well as the generation of economic benefit through the local supply chain.

Planning consent was granted for the proposed scheme at Planning Committee in 2020. Rural Solutions are now reappointed to undertake the detailed design phase to prepare for construction.