A NEW milking parlour can be built at a farm near the English/Scottish border after Cumberland Council granted planning permission for the proposal.

The application site, which covers an area of 976.00 square metres whose current use is described as a farmyard and farmland, is at Englishtown Farm near Longtown and the decision to approve the planning application was taken on Friday (April 12).

According to the application it was proposed to construct a portal framed agricultural building to accommodate a modern rotary milking parlour.

The walls are proposed to be concrete with grey box profile sheeting above, it will have polycarbonate clear roof sheeting and it would have roll up doors.

According to a planning statement the current owner of the farm had recently bought the property with the intention of operating it as a modern dairy unit.

The report states: "The farm had historically been used as a dairy farm, but the last owner mainly used the farm for arable cropping.

"This has resulted in the current steading falling behind current modern dairy farming systems. This has resulted in the present owner having to redesign the current livestock accommodation on the farm.

"This application is the third of four applications that will be submitted to Cumberland Council in the coming weeks. The four applications will focus on the modernisation of the unit by demolition and rebuild of the agricultural buildings, and the creation of modern cattle housing.

"By doing this the owner intends to bring the farm up to modern standards for the environment and cattle health."

According to the report the existing buildings were too small to accommodate a rotary parlour and it states: "The existing building is also on the wrong side of the farm away from the majority of the farm buildings.

"The proposed new shed is being constructed with livestock health and welfare at the heart of its design.

"The shed will also house a modern rotary milking parlour which will reduce milking times and take less staff than a traditional milking parlour. The shed has also been planned to allow modern farm machinery to operate around and within it.

"This will make the milking as easy to manage as possible, this is essential as finding staff to work on farms is very difficult so any efficiencies available need to be capitalised on."