A home and garden centre has submitted revised plans to South Lakeland District Council for a horticultural nursery after a previous application was refused.

Charnley's Home and Garden Centre in Dalton submitted plans for the nursery, on land off the A596 in Kirkby, to supply the garden centre with plants in 2021 which were refused in March 2022.

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Reasons for refusal were given by SLDC as: "The proposal for a horticulture nursery development within the open countryside has provided insufficient evidence to demonstrate that there is an essential need for the development in this location.

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The refusal statement also says: "By virtue of its scale, industrial design and siting on open agricultural land, the proposed horticulture nursery development would result in a prominent, readily visible and unsympathetic addition to the open countryside, which would cause unacceptable harm to the landscape character from short and long-ranging views, for which landscaping would not adequately mitigate."

To address these points, the revised plans say: "The proposal has been revised; with a reduction in the number of buildings, a building reduced in height and the layout of the buildings modified.

"The delegated report of the original application referred to the buildings being of 'prominent industrial appearance' but of course, the buildings are agricultural/horticultural buildings (including a glasshouse and polytunnels). 

"The horticultural buildings are of course designed for a specific purpose, growing plants, they are not tall structures and not industrial buildings.

"The proposal is not an 'unsympathetic addition to the open countryside', it is a range of buildings which is what is normal and expected within the rural scene.

"As demonstrated by the submitted landscape statement the proposal will not cause unacceptable harm to the landscape character."

The Mail: PROPOSED: Where the proposed nursery will bePROPOSED: Where the proposed nursery will be

The Planning Statement addresses the need for locally-grown plants as Brexit has made the supply chain for garden centres "unreliable" and has often relied on imported plants from the Netherlands.

It said the siting of the nursery adjacent to the garden centre, and for Mr Charnley to reside on-site, is vital for the constant tending of the plants.

It also states that this is vital due to the growing interest in gardening across South Cumbria: "Gardening is part of the leisure industry and as such visits to the Garden Centre come under farm tourism and entertainment so actually having access to the knowledgeable grower even if this is just by the range of plants available and the information provided."