A large fruit-growing firm has lost a long planning battle to allow polytunnels and worker caravans at a Herefordshire farm, and now faces enforcement action to have them removed.

Ledbury-based Haygrove had two separate planning applications at its Mahollam Road farm, Huntington near Kington refused by Herefordshire Council last year, following strong opposition locally.

This was despite it having already planted up the two fields, totalling seven hectares, with blueberry bushes and cherry trees, and installed static caravans at the farm for seasonal workers.

The company, which had a turnover of more that £50 million in 2023, then appealed against the refusals to the government’s Planning Inspectorate.

But now the appointed planning inspector AA Phillips has sided with the council and dismissed the twin appeals.

The inspector’s report said ten of the proposed 18 caravans along the side of one field were already in place, along with a sewerage treatment plant connected to a “facilities trailer”, with another planned.

They said the proposed polytunnels, like those already on neighbouring fields, “would be prominent features within the local landscape from a range of sensitive receptors”, something which a Haygrove’s landscape visual statement had “downplayed”.

The existing polytunnels at the farm already “constitute a negative feature” and “should not be taken as a precedent for future development of this type in the area”, they added.

Likewise the caravans and trailer “already have a harmful effect on the character and appearance of the area”, and their use in season would disrupt its “general calmness”.

The developments would also harm the setting of the nearby Huntington Castle and Turret Castle, both scheduled monuments, and also of the 19th-century Huntington Park.

And while the proposals would bring economic benefits, these would not outweigh the harm they would cause, the inspector concluded.

A spokesperson for Herefordshire Council said: “Following the successful outcome of the appeal, the council continues to liaise with the applicants and their agents, and is considering the appropriate course of enforcement action.”

Haygrove was asked to comment.