INCREASING regulation has been described as a gun to the heads of local farmers. The warning came from Gerald and Janet Carey of Le Variouf Farm in the Forest.

Mrs Carey made a representation at the Rural Area Plan planning inquiry looking for ways to develop some land for residential accommodation.

‘It goes on and on and it gets worse,’ she said about increasing checks on farming activities.

‘We spent £52,000 on a slurry tank; it’s all big money, it’s like a gun against your head. We put a lot of money into farming and if you don’t look after us, the next generation is not interested.’

If permission was granted to build one or two houses on land at Rue des Corbinets, the money could fund further farm expansion.

‘We’ve never had any use for it. It’s an old quarry, we believe, and has been a waste of space, really.

‘Nearby there are houses and if they can live there, I can’t see why not.’

She warned there were only 20 farmers left and that they needed looking after if they were not to leave the industry.

‘It’s derelict land and a rat hole. I’m a farmer’s wife and I know about the countryside.’

Mrs Carey added that the environment was the number-one concern.

‘And this is the environment and we are important. We are the most important people in Guernsey, if you like.’

The area had been used as a furze brake and is cut annually.

‘Down in the Vale, there aren’t the farmers and the land has turned to dereliction; you’ll be paying the States to do it soon – it won’t be the lovely picture.’

Environment Department representative Alistair Coates strongly defended the policy on no new-build residential development as a means of preserving open countryside.

He added that policies did support agricultural development.

The National Trust of Guernsey supported the IDC’s stance.

‘It’s absolutely four-square behind the IDC in what it’s saying about the conservation and the improvement of the environment,’ said Advocate Roger Perrot, on behalf of the trust.

He added that the cliffs remained as open land, an exception to the ‘semi-anarchy of ribbon development’.

‘There is a glorious view. We shouldn’t have land just giving a glorious view out to sea; the hinterland itself should be protected.’

Mrs Carey also wants to build a house in a field near the farm, describing it as infill.

Mr Coates stated categorically that the site was not infill.

‘If you want farmers, they have to be near their farm because they work long hours – they work longer hours than most people,’ said Mrs Carey.

A third field the farm owns, at Rue des Reines, was also subject to a representation.

The field was surrounded by buildings, said Mrs Carey, and was wet because of water draining from other sites.

‘It could be industrial, building, anything.’

Several residents objected to any development, wishing to protect the green field and raising concerns over traffic levels.

Environment Department representative Damon Hackley said that the field was designated as high landscape quality. Industrial development on it would be prohibited, as would retail, because it is not near to a rural centre.

The possibility of the expansion of an adjacent vinery into the field, or outdoor recreation facilities, are not precluded by the plan.