Cameron’s father-in-law loses abattoir fight

Planners have approved a new abattoir close to Sir Reginald Sheffield’s stately home in North Yorkshire Planners have approved a new abattoir close to the stately home of the prime minister’s father-in-law. Sir Reginald Sheffield’s protests against the possible effects of smell and noise on his Sutton Park estate near York were overwhelmingly backed at a village meeting, but have now been rejected by the local Conservative-controlled council. Butcher Chris Hodgson will not only be allowed to convert a former pig-rearing unit at Sutton Court farm, but has been offered longer working hours than he requested. Hambleton district council’s planning committee, meeting in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, said that there were no reasons to reject council officers’ recommendation that the project go ahead. The abattoir will slaughter and process around 9,500 animals a year, reducing travel times for farmers who have generally given the proposal strong backing. Opposition has been equally intense in the village of Sutton-on-the-Forest, where the Sheffields bought the local Georgian mansion in 1963 and have subsequently turned it into a minor tourist attraction. In a letter also signed by the estate’s trustees and his second wife Lady Victoria Sheffield, Sir Reginald said that the plan would set back 40 years of improvements and access to Sutton Park. The house takes guided tours on Sundays and Wednesdays between April and September when the gardens are also open daily. Hambleton’s decision allows the abattoir to operate from 6am to 6pm rather than starting at 8am as requested in the application. Hodgson says that eight jobs will be created at the plant, in an area where work in agriculture has been hit by mechanisation and merging of farms into larger units. Approval has still to be confirmed by the full council, but the process is unlikely to be spun out long enough to await the government’s localism measures. These are not clear in detail, pending parliamentary discussion and civil servants’ work on specific provisions, but they are likely to include more emphasis on neighbourhood opinion. The Sutton case highlights the dilemma involved of ‘how local is local’, with opposition in the village balanced by support elsewhere in Hambleton. Some protesters appealed for backing to David Cameron, whose wife Samantha grew up on the Sheffields’ main estates in Lincolnshire but often visited Sutton. But he kept well out of things. David Cameron Samantha Cameron Rural affairs Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 27, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.