It’s the day of the district council planning meeting. Ruth’s glad to get out, avoiding the lorries and cement as they lay the foundation for Brookfield’s new slurry tank.
Pat meets Hattie Marshall and introduces her to Ruth. They clearly have lots of support. Brian and committee chair, Kevin Townsend, note the good turn out and prepare for hostility.
Hattie makes her statement, emphasising the threat to conventional dairy farmers. While highlighting environmental factors, including pollution, she says that cows will disappear from the countryside and argues that it’s fundamentally wrong to treat animals merely as economic units. As Hattie expresses fears of accidental spillages into the river, Brian objects and accuses her of scaremongering.
Chief planning officer, John Bagshaw, recommends that the application should be approved. Pat is disappointed when Esther Sutton supports it on economic and local employment grounds. Martin Sykes thinks the hype and the DVD must have won her over.
The highways officer is satisfied there won’t be a significant increase in traffic, the building is an appropriate design, and there are no valid planning reasons for refusal. The committee votes to delegate the final decision to the chief planning officer in the light of the Environment Agency’s report. Brian tells Radio Borsetshire he has every confidence there’ll be a favourable outcome.
WRITER: Caroline Harrington
