ALTHOUGH it brought in 40 letters of objection to a revised application by Hattingley Valley Wines to build a storage and processing space ancillary at its Wield Yard headquarters near Medstead, it got the thumbs up from East Hampshire planners last Thursday.

The vote was nine to two for permission for the 6.6-metre storage building with a floor area of 1,770 square metres and a wine processing area at ground level, despite more protests from the public gallery who, echoing written objections, said the building was “vast and out of keeping” with a small rural hamlet.

It would result in an unacceptable increase in traffic, particularly lorries along narrow roads, and they also felt the applicants had “outgrown their site”.

Wield Parish Council had said they were “broadly content” with the 33 per cent reduction from the previous proposal but recommended landscaping and screening should be placed along the south east side of the extension building.

They had also requested that, although a Section 106 payment is not mandatory for this type of application, the applicant be invited to make a contribution to upgrade, to an all-weather standard, the two vehicle passing places on the winery approach road from the south east, leading past the pub. This, the parish council felt “would be well received in the village”.

Hattingley Valley Wines was founded by Simon Robinson in 2008 and produces a range of sparkling English wines.