Case Study 6 – Richard Platt, Mere View Office Development.
Mere View Farm is located in the village of Pickmere, near Northwich within the green belt. Richard Platt’s grandfather purchased the holding back in 1921, after which it then transferred to Richard’s father. Since 2000 Richard has been running the business as a sole trader. The farm was initially in the Entry Level Stewardship but in 2006 the farm was accepted into the Higher Level Stewardship scheme.
In 1990 Richard undertook his first diversification project and opened a 7 acre static caravan park for visitors. With Richard’s experience of successfully diversifying his business and with the continuing volatility of commodity prices, a planning appraisal was undertaken in 2002 to consider further diversification options. This resulted in a feasibility study which suggested changing the use of certain barns on the holding into office accommodation.
In 2006 Planning Permission was granted to convert the barns into offices together with associated car parking. At this stage in the project, Richard became aware of the REG service via his Planning Consultant and he contacted the team for support. REG adviser Kerry Kall was assigned to assist him with his project, the main objective being to get assistance in identifying potential grant aid opportunities that he would be eligible to apply for.
With Kerry’s knowledge of the various grants available, a decision was made to apply to Rural Enterprise for a Rural Small Building Scheme grant. The scheme offered grants to assist in developing redundant buildings in the rural areas of Cheshire in order to bring them back into productive business use. Following support from Kerry, in September 2006 a grant aid application, along with the supporting business plan was submitted and Richard was awarded 25% of the project costs. Building work began immediately with the build completion expected in September 2007. Richard is hopeful that ingoing tenants will take occupation shortly afterwards.
The development will provide four office units providing a total of 3,323 sq ft of net letable floor area. The barns will be converted to a high quality specification and let on the open market. Kerry is now able to provide advice on marketing, such as the options for advertising and management of the units