DOUBTS over the financial viability of an alpaca farm and horse riding business at Higher Kingston Russell have resulted in local planners unanimously rejecting the scheme.

West Dorset planning committee threw out an amended application at its meeting on Thursday – despite support for the business case for the venture from two agricultural consultants. A meeting earlier in the year deferred a decision for more information.

The committee heard that since then some buildings which were being applied for on the site, had been completed, and the majority of the 20 alpacas were already there.

It will now be up to planning enforcement officers to take legal action if there is no appeal, or legal challenge, over the committee decision.

Neighbours and the parish council told the committee that the site was unsuitable, within the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with questions whether there was a case to justify a three-bedroom temporary home on the site because of ‘agricultural need.’

Council officers maintained their recommendation to approve the scheme for a temporary period of three years to give the applicants a chance to see if they could make a profit.

Cllr Simon Christopher, a chartered accountant with agricultural clients, said the figures provided to make a business case for having a three-bed temporary home on the site, were difficult to interpret because of the lack of detail.

“We have seen some edited highlights but we haven’t seen any detailed accounts,” he said.

He said he did not believe the business would make a profit within the three years required and said that, by the applicants’ own admission on the figures they provided , would not be in profit until year 5, or 6. He also doubted whether the scale of the venture qualified it for an agricultural classification and was unhappy about a number of new buildings in the AONB.

The application, for a 6.5 hectares site at Higher Kingston Russell, which was already being used for horses and seasonal camping, was for a three-bed mobile home, together with a barn and field shelter, temporary for three years.

Applicant Tina Hardiman did not attend the meeting and was represented by agent Samuel Croft who urged the committee to accept the financial viability of the project which, he said, justified the need for a home on the site to allow care of the animals and to provide security.

He said the alpacas and horses were unlikely to affect neighbouring properties and there had been no highway objections.

Neighbours and the parish council had objected to the application – worried about extra traffic on a narrow lane; the water supply, which comes from a private borehole, and the effect of having a temporary home and other buildings in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, where development is not normally allowed.

The site is to the east of Kingston Russell Farm, and to the north of the A35.