Soft fruit grower loses retrospective planning application for polytunnels

Soft fruit and asparagus grower The New Forest Fruit Company (NFFC) may have to remove 15 polytunnels after a retrospective planning application was denied by the local authority. 

The New Forest National Park Authority (NPA) has refused the application, which was submitted in May of this year to extend the company’s new venture into vine growing and wine production.

The tunnels would also help reduce the use of pesticides and other sprays, according to application documents.

The 8m-wide tunnels, which were installed in summer 2024, have prompted objection from local residents, with the final decision concluding the tunnels would “result in a visually intrusive development with harmful visual impact upon the locality and intrinsic landscape character of the New Forest National Park.”

The authority also ruled that the cumulative effect of the works would contribute to the “more intensive use of the site”.

In the application, documents stated that NFFC is a “well-regarded long established and highly successful soft fruit business which has now diversified into wine production.

“The business has now been growing vines for a number of years learning and developing the enterprise and is now in a position to roll out production on a larger scale,” documents read. 

NFFC produces soft fruit over 400 acres, much of which is already under polytunnels.

Application documents read that: “These structures provide the benefits of extending the growing season by protecting the crops from inclement weather, widening the variety of crops grown and providing protection against pests and disease therefore reducing the need to spray fungicides and other crop protection chemicals.”

The company also pointed out that “the challenge in the 21st century is to increase productivity, maximise output and adapt to a changing climate and polytunnels enable us to do this.”

The NFFC can appeal the decision.