Friends appeal to keep vinery self-storage

Monday 11th July 2011, 2:29PM BST.

TWO friends are fighting to use 2% of a six-acre site to let out as storage space to fund maintenance work, a planning appeals tribunal heard.

Tom Holland and Oliver Abbott, both 28, have been based at Petersfield Vinery, Rue des Reines, Forest, since 2005. Mr Holland’s father bought site in 2008, allowing them to stay there permanently.

The pair have already spent about £30,000 to tidy up the site and expect to pay even more to keep it in good condition. To fund this work, they began renting out part of a large, clad greenhouse to several individuals.

However, that has gone against the horticultural use of the site and a planning application for change of use to commercial was rejected.