THE dogged owner of an alpaca farm has succeeded in his battle to build a new storage unit at the fourth time of asking.

Adrian Hodgson, from White Peak Alpaca Farm in Mobberley, wasn’t even present to see members of Cheshire East Council's northern planning committee approve the plan at a meeting in Macclesfield Town Hall on Wednesday, April 5.

His application to build a general purpose agricultural building to store machinery and produce followed a similar bid for a larger unit made in April 2016, which was rejected a month later.

A second application was also rejected last November, before a third attempt for planning permission was withdrawn in December.

Ahead of the meeting planning officers had recommended the plan was approved, but Cllr Jamie Macrae, CEC member for Mobberley, was worried about its impact on the greenbelt.

Cllr Hilda Gaddum, CEC member for Sutton, said: “If this is granted today it will do a lot of damage to the location.

“We would lose that view if the building is sited there. There is no way I can support this.”

Cllr Ellie Brooks, CEC member for Wilmslow West and Chorley, agreed that the proposal should be rejected – claiming she was 'confused' as to why planning officers had backed the application after earlier ones had been rejected.

But Cllr Liz Durham, CEC member for Broken Cross and Upton, had more sympathy for Mr Hodgson’s proposal.

“This is someone who is trying to make country living and make something different,” she said.

Following the debate, councillors proposed that the storage unit should be built – provided no livestock are kept in the unit, that it remains for agricultural storage, and that the open end of the barn remains open.

Seven councillors backed the plan, while four rejected it.