A mountain of black plastic

[zubianne]

Our neighbour has just allowed the local farmer to surround our beautiful garden with a 50ft wall of black plastic bales. We are devastated! Does anyone know if there is a minimum distance these bales have to be from a residential property?

[Ethel]

Phone your local council and fire brigade for their views - is it hay bales or something similar?

[zubianne]

Thank you for your suggestions.
Yes, they are bales of hay. A couple of years ago they stacked up some unwrapped bales one or two high which weren't too bad, but these are five or six high and with the black plastic, it's unnatural and ugly. It has a nasty sour smell too, our garden is spoilt.
Our local council are very hard to deal with, but it may make a difference that this is an area of special scientific interest and an area of outstanding natural beauty (well, it was!).

[horselady]

What a nightmare! I take it that the land belongs to your neighbour and the farmer is paying him for the use of his land, or is it being done as a favour? Either way, you need to contact the planning and/or environmental services department of your council and tell them you want it investigated. Push the point regarding the fact that it is SSSI and AONB. Don't let the council intimidate you, they are there to answer the public's queries.

[zubianne]

Yes, the field belongs to our neighbour and he rents it the farmer for his cows. I love the cows and I know the bales of hay are important for feed, it's really the plastic I find so awful in a beautiful landscape like this and so close to my garden.
I phoned the council about a related issue yesterday and I was sent on my way feeling like I had made some kind of nuisance call - that's why I thought I'd find out as much as I could from more understanding sources before I went back to them!
Thank you for your answer.

[buildersmate]

An interesting question. Don't claim expertise but I did try and research it for you. The best I got to was a Code of Good Practice produced by DEFRA. Being a Code, its voluntary, and I certainly couldn't find anything about distances to residential properties. DEFRA are more fussed about seepage of slurry from the bags and it getting into watercourses. There's a minimum distance from watercourses of 10 metres, but I imagine that doesn't change the price of fish for you. I also looked at the 'air' document that you can download from this part of the DEFRA site - it is all about air pollutants and refers to statutory nuisances. I guess that's your best bet to getting something done, via the Enviornmental people at your Local Council. Sounds like a gap in the legislation.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/environment/cogap /index.htm

[zubianne]

Thank you buildersmate - that's very kind. The one piece of information I got from the council jobsworth was that I could contact DEFRA, so that's probably the best way to go.
I don't like the sound of the slurry - if there was any run-off, it would come straight into our garden as we are in a dip several feet below the bottom level of the bales.
We have a well in our garden, so that may link up to some underground water supply.
We also have badgers living somewhere nearby which we feed every evening, so we may be able to use their prescence to our advantage.
I'll have a really good look at the DEFRA website and move on from there.
Thanks again.

[zubianne]

Waht upsets me most is that this chap has acres of land, but all the noisy, ugly, dirty stuff has to happen right alongside our garden.
Also, he's a successful business man and I'm amazed how he manages to dump all over you and still make it sound like he's done you some kind of favour!
I have a grudging respect, but I won't be friendly any more after this.