They are either a blot on the landscape or the saviour of the British fruit industry, and now the High Court has ruled that farmers must get planning permission before they can put up a polytunnel.

Countryside groups hailed yesterday’s decision as a victory for democracy and hoped that it would encourage farmers to think about environmental damage. Farmers and fruit growers, however, said they feared that the £200 million a year fruit industry would be threatened if their polytunnels were removed forcibly.

Technically the ruling applies only to a proposed development on Green Belt land in Surrey but many local authorities are expected to use it as a precedent.

The Hall Hunter Partnership, which owns Tuesley Farm, near Godalming, and grows fruit for Waitrose, had lodged an appeal to the High Court against an enforcement notice from Waverley Borough Council ordering the removal of polytunnels, windbreaks and caravans for workers.

Mr Justice Sullivan rejected all grounds for the challenge, insisting that planning permission was necessary.

Campaigners suggested that the ruling would trigger applications in the main fruit-growing areas of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Kent and Hampshire, where polytunnels are unpopular.

Tom Oliver, of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: “This will now ensure that there will be proper representation through the democratic process of the potential conflicts between polytunnels and other interests. We know there are considerable and legitimate commercial opportunities that polytunnel farming represents but there are equally legitimate concerns for landscape protection and the protection of soil and water resources.”

He called on the National Farmers’ Union to recognise that the planning process had a legitimate place in the industry. “The sooner there is constructive dialogue with the NFU the better,” he said.

Friends of the Earth was convinced that local authorities would now encourage farmers and growers to make planning applications in areas where locals objected to the blight on the landscape or where there was environmental damage.

David Glasson, of the NFU, said: ”We are keen that this ruling is not interpreted as a ruling on all polytunnels. We want to keep the soft-fruit industry a British success story instead of buying in foreign imports. We are hoping the court decision will not be a retrograde step for the industry.”

While many countryside dwellers loathe the tunnels as much as they do wind turbines, farmers regard them as the saviour of the soft fruit industry, allowing them to grow strawberries six months a year instead of the traditional six weeks.

The NFU has been trying to sort out clashes between villagers and farmers over polytunnels for some months and has even developed a code of conduct, which asks growers to avoid putting polytunnels within 30 metres of a private house.

From January 1 all suppliers of soft fruit to supermarkets will be have to comply with the NFU code.

In Herefordshire thousands of acres are covered in plastic and locals, including the gardening expert Monty Don, have campaigned vigorously for their removal.

Bill Wiggin, Conservative rural affairs spokesman and MP for Leominster, Herefordshire, has attempted to cool tempers by calling for a shake- up in planning laws to give local people the right to challenge polytunnels.

Tunnel vision

Pesticide use is reduced by 50 per cent in tunnels

Source: British Summer Fruits and National Farmers Union

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