Don’t bulldoze Babe’s farm!
Dismay as fields that inspired hit film to be buried under Barratt homes
IT was the farm that inspired a bestselling book – and Hollywood blockbuster – about an orphaned pig.
But now this field is to be buried under dozens of Barratt Homes.
Developers have finally won a battle to build more than 200 houses on 12 acres of land at Woodlands Farm in South Gloucestershire.
This was the home of Dick KingSmith, the children’s author who created Babe the pig in his 1984 bestseller The Sheep-Pig. The story of a pig that is raised by sheepdogs and learns to herd animals, it was made into the 1995 hit film Babe.
Barratt Homes has spent months fighting for permission to build on the land, where King- Smith lived from 1948 to 1962.
South Gloucestershire Council argued the plans could not be justified because of the loss of agricultural land and the site’s cultural importance.
But Barratt won an appeal after planning inspectors cited a crippling shortage of affordable homes in the area.
Last night one of King-Smith’s three children, Juliet, 72, said: ‘It’s very disappointing and we as a family are all rather dismayed by the decision.
‘I went to the last appeal hearing and spoke about my father and how important the farm had been for him. He farmed there for 14 years and it inspired his books.
‘It’s enormously sad that treasured parts of the countryside are being gobbled up by developers.’
Planning inspector Nick Fagan said he accepted that the site had ‘an important cultural association because [King-Smith] is a well-known children’s author.’
However, Mr Fagan said the council has a shortfall of at least 1,000 homes over the next five years, and this tipped the balance in favour of development.
He said the 215 houses, 35 per cent of which would be classified as affordable, would make a ‘sizeable contribution’.
South Gloucestershire Council said it was disappointed by the decision, claiming that the Barratt Homes proposals ignored the demands of the community.
One of the councillors, Pat Hockey, said: ‘I came into local politics many years ago to protect our village communities, so I’m very unhappy about this decision to swallow up more of our local countryside with urban development.’
Barratt Homes said it will build detached, semi- detached and terraced houses. It also claimed that there would be public open spaces and an ‘informal community orchard’. Dick King-Smith died in his sleep in January 2011 at the age of 88 after a long illness.
His first book, The Fox Busters, was published in 1978 and he wrote more than a hundred other children’s novels. In 2010 the author’s services to children’s literature were recognised when he was awarded an OBE.