A RACEHORSE trainer has been slammed for “creeping” development at an isolated rural farm, which has allegedly had “a seismic effect” locally.

Tom Lacey trains national hunt racehorses at the 83-hectare Sapness Farm near Woolhope, eight miles north of Ross.

Permission was granted in 2013 to convert and extend farm buildings, followed by retrospective approval of further horse-training facilities in 2018.

He later installed two more steel-framed twin stable blocks and new turn-out pens – but only submitted the planning application after an enforcement investigation in 2020.

The application was passed to Herefordshire Council’s planning committee in 2022, when a decision was deferred pending reports on ecology, manure and waste management and hydrology.

The original and revised plans drew objections from 17 individuals and groups, but a certificate of lawfulness had since been granted for the previous yard and seven stables.

Local resident Jeremy Loyd said the “long series of applications” had together had “a seismic effect” on the area, particularly its traffic, for which local roads were “wholly unsuitable”.

For the applicant, Marc Willis said what was now being proposed would not have a markedly greater impact on waste or traffic than what had already been permitted.

But Coun Richard Thomas told the planning committee the farm was “totally unsuitable for the operations being carried on” but as the planning “creep” could not now be reversed, “there’s not much we can do other than put tough conditions with it”.

Coun Bruce Baker said the removal of manure from the anticipated 60 horses twice a year “is a huge amount, requiring a fleet of trucks”.

“But if we refused, it would go through on appeal,” he said.

Council development manager Kelly Gibbons said the committee’s site visit had found “further unauthorised structures”, “which have been passed to enforcement”.

Coun Mark Woodall warned that traffic from the farm and other neighbouring businesses “could destroy the road”, adding: “Is that our responsibility?”

Committee chairman Coun Terry James said the application was approved, “however reluctantly”.