A neighbour has hit out at a farmer over a canopy that lights up ‘like Blackpool illuminations’ at night, claiming it’s ruining the tranquility of a picturesque valley in Sheffield.
But the farmer at the centre of the row insists she’s done nothing wrong and has accused the neighbour of making a fuss over nothing.
The structure. built last autumn at Same Hill Farm on Hagg Lane in the scenic Rivelin Valley, features a metal-framed canopy over an equestrian training area.
While planning permission was granted by Sheffield City Council last year, not everyone is happy.
Sue Winger, 66, who has lived on nearby Tofts Lane for over three decades, says the building is an ‘eyesore’, especially when floodlights illuminate the night sky.
The fuming resident said the lights ‘lit up like Blackpool Illuminations’, adding that photos she has taken from Tofts Lane and Roscoe Bank disprove the council’s claim that ‘the site is not readily visible from any direction given the context amongst woodland’.
She added: ‘I want the council to explain how their written words are so far from the truth. They need to explain what they have written’.
The official report from the council had insisted that the site was ‘located in a remote and discreet position, enclosed on all boundaries by trees and woodland within the surrounding Rivelin Valley’.
It also said: ‘There is no meaningful view of the site from any direction, other than glimpsed views, due to both the vegetation and topography of the area’.
But Sue says that is nonsense, and she is furious that residents were not consulted before permission was granted.
However, farm owner Rachael Brownrigg said she was unaware she needed planning permission for the lights, and after an amended application granted permission for the interior lights, used between 7am and 9pm, she removed the external ones and has not used the lights through the night.
Rachael also said she only used the lights ‘two or three times’.
The farm owner said: ‘She didn’t know that this planning had been approved because she missed the notice period, and that’s why she has got a bee in her bonnet about it.
‘Why is she bothered about a canopy? If she wants to look at green fields, why doesn’t she go and buy a house that’s in the middle of green fields?’
Rachael said Sue has ’caused her a load of hassle’ as she applied for planning permission on a large extension to build a five-bed house.
‘I would just say to her, ‘Can you get a proper job instead of bothering everybody else?’
Sue has also accused Rachael of tearing down trees to make way for the construction – something Rachael flatly denies.
‘I have not taken any trees down at all, not a single tree,’ Rachael said.
But Sue isn’t backing down.
She’s now escalated the issue to Sheffield Hallam MP Olivia Blake and contacted the Ombudsman, demanding an investigation into how the planning decision was made in the first place.