'Unprecedented demand' for Ribble Valley doggy day care behind new application at golf course site
'Unprecedented demand' for doggy day care is behind a new planning application in the Ribble Valley.
The Valley View dog day care facilitieswithin the Mytton Fold Golf Course site in Langho, were granted planning permission in February 2022 and have operated without incident since that time.
The business currently employs two full time and two part time staff and has achieved a 5 star rating from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), caring for customers dogs during normal working hours. Now the owners, who are from the same family who have owned the golf club for more than 100 years, have applied to “modestly and sympathetically extend the business to cater for the unprecedented demand with particular focus on small breed dogs.”
They want change of use permission to provide care for an additional 16 dogs, as well as a retrospective lean-to extension and exercise area, together with new exercise area, additional parking, extension to existing building, fencing and privacy screen netting and soft planting.
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They say: “Valley View has an already burgeoning waiting list of clients who can find no suitable vacancies with licensed dog day care facilities within the area. The proposed extension is subordinate in scale to the original and is needed to accommodate a marginal increase in additional dogs that will also result in two additional full-time employees and one additional apprentice.”
Need
In terms of the retrospective additions, the applicant has said that the building has been extended slightly to accommodate an open sided shelter that gives the flexibility for those dogs that find the rain unpleasant and to offer a dry area so the dogs can continue to play and exercise.
They said: “Winter months can be very challenging for the dogs exercising on wet ground. To ensure their wellbeing is catered for during the winter months, a small piece of land (to the rear of the existing building) has been part astro turfed/part recycled bark along with an ‘open leanto porch’ added so staff can safely monitor the dogs. These changes also ensure the dogs welfare is being prioritised due to the nature of the wet and muddy ground causing joint and tendon injuries along with skin complaints.”
If permission is granted, the dogs will continue to be picked up and dropped off by staff members from their owners’ homes within their specially adapted vans in the morning and looked after and exercised at the land during the day, during normal working hours, before returning home from 3pm. They claim that extending their offering will only cause one additional vehicle in and one out per day.
The day care facility ceases operation over the weekends to ensure that there is no potential conflict with the Golf Club’s Golf Competitions that are held during the weekend.
How would the changes look?
The proposed exercise area requires the erection of a 5ft agricultural post and wire stock fencing to provide a secure environment. The extension of the small car parking area will use the same gravel/crushed material that is already in use at the day care facility and is also used by the Golf Club for the pedestrian and buggy routes around the wider golf course.
The applicant says the stained timber ‘agricultural’ appearance is “very in keeping with the rural setting” and will blend into the hill side when viewed from the only distant viewpoint of the land, with the building being screened from public view by matufre trees.
A decision will be made in coming weeks by Ribble Valley Borough Council.
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