A rescue sanctuary meets the planning system

Today's edition leads inside the escalating planning battle over Happy Pants Ranch, the animal rescue sanctuary now facing enforcement action after inspectors ruled it an unlawful development in open countryside. We also return to Kent’s ongoing water farce as tens of thousands of homes are hit by fresh supply failures and pressure mounts on South East Water’s leadership, before rounding up the latest wave of Conservative councillors defecting to Reform across Thanet, Gravesham and Sevenoaks. Here’s what you need to know.

Inside the planning battle over a Kent rescue sanctuary

On a stretch of open farmland outside Newington, Happy Pants Ranch has become home to hundreds of rescue animals, and the focus of a long-running planning dispute that has now reached a decisive moment.

Swale Borough Council says it is reviewing its next steps after being unable to confirm that the animal sanctuary has complied with an enforcement notice requiring the site to close and the land to be restored. A nine-month compliance period granted by a government planning inspector expired in September last year, with the council now considering what action to take next.

Happy Pants Ranch describes itself as a 'forever home to more than 450 special needs rescue animals with nowhere else to go.' But for the council, some neighbouring residents and planning inspectors, it represents a large commercial operation operating in open countryside without permission.

Happy Pants Ranch relocated to the Iwade Roaf site in early 2021 after being forced to leave its previous base in Yelsted, near Sittingbourne, where it had operated for several years as an animal rescue sanctuary.

Later that year, the charity applied for retrospective planning permission for a change of use from agriculture to an animal sanctuary on the 21 acre site, including animal shelters, shipping containers for storage, fencing and gates, access tracks, and a mobile caravan for residential use.

Comparing satellite imagery from recent years shows the site has been transformed from open farmland into a large operational animal sanctuary, with access tracks, enclosures, shelters and compound areas now covering much of the land.

After assessing the application against national planning policy and Swale Borough Council’s local plan, the council refused permission in April 2022.

In its decision, the council said the development harmed the countryside setting, failed to conserve or enhance biodiversity, had an unacceptable visual impact, and caused noise and disturbance to neighbouring residents. It also said there was insufficient information to assess the traffic impact of open days and visitor numbers.

In October 2022, the council issued a formal planning enforcement notice alleging an unauthorised material change of use of the land to a mixed use comprising an animal sanctuary and residential occupation via caravans.

The notice required the mixed use of the site to stop, and the land to be restored to its condition prior to the breach.

This enforcement notice was appealed by the site’s operator, Amey James, who runs Happy Pants Ranch through a registered charity.

A public hearing and site visit were held in November 2024, with evidence heard from the charity, council officers, professional advisers and local residents.

In December 2024, the Planning Inspectorate dismissed the appeal, upheld the enforcement notice (with limited variations), and refused planning permission on the deemed application.

In a detailed decision running to more than a dozen pages, the inspector concluded that the development had caused significant harm to the character and appearance of the countryside, threatened biodiversity and ancient woodland, and had had an unacceptable impact on neighbouring residents through noise and disturbance.

The inspector also found that the use amounted to 'intentional unauthorised development,' a material planning consideration weighing against the grant of permission.

While recognising the emotional importance of the sanctuary’s work, the inspector said this did not outweigh the planning harm caused by the unauthorised development.

He granted a nine-month compliance period to meet the requirements of the enforcement notice, extending the original six-month deadline.

That compliance period ran from the date of the inspector’s decision in December 2024 and expired in September last year.

When the Kent Current asked whether it could be confirmed that the requirements of the enforcement notice had been complied with and whether the site is now considered compliant, Swale Borough Council said.

A council spokesperson said, “We are actively reviewing the case regarding the planning enforcement notice. All considerations are being taken into account in deciding the appropriate next steps.”

The council also confirmed there is an ongoing prosecution relating to an alleged breach of a noise abatement notice at the site, but said it could not comment further as this is an active criminal case.

Councillors at both Swale Borough Council and Kent County Council were contacted for comment for this piece, but did not respond.

The inspector’s decision also records a long history of regulatory action at the site following complaints from neighbouring residents.

Shortly after the sanctuary began operating in 2021, the council received noise nuisance complaints relating to the cumulative daily noise from animals, including cockerels, geese, sheep, cattle and dogs.

Noise monitoring was carried out, resulting in the issuance of two noise abatement notices in July 2021. One related to the use of an electricity generator on the site, while the other related to noise from animals.

Although the generator was later restricted to daytime use, complaints about animal noise continued. Further monitoring in 2024 found that noise from the animals remained constant and at an unacceptable level.

The inspector noted that prosecution proceedings have now been commenced in relation to an alleged breach of a noise abatement notice.

The decision also records that Swale Borough Council issued a Community Protection Notice in April 2023 after repeated incidents of animals straying onto neighbouring land and the public highway, causing distress to residents. Two fixed penalty notices were later issued after the problem continued.

The inspector concluded that the repeated occurrence of stray animals was unacceptable and indicative of poor management or inadequate fencing.

The Happy Pants Ranch is a registered charity.

Amey James, the charity’s founder and sole trustee registered with the Charity Commission, said she had been advised not to comment on the planning enforcement process because it is ongoing.

She referred the Kent Current to a trustee statement published by the charity, which acknowledges a series of administrative and regulatory failures and seeks to provide context for the challenges the organisation says it is facing.

In the statement, the charity says it “naively assumed” that the site’s former farm use covered its activities, and accepts that it should have sought planning permission for change of use.

It says it received poor legal advice during the early stages of the planning process, which hindered its appeal and damaged its credibility with the council and the public. The charity says it is now working with new professional advisers and has submitted a new proposal for pre-application planning advice.

The statement also acknowledges failures in statutory reporting, including late submission of accounts to the Charity Commission, and says the trustees take full responsibility for those failings.

The charity’s most recent accounts, for the year ending February 2024, show it recorded a deficit of £5,097 and had negative reserves of £53,260.

The accounts were filed almost a year late and were formally qualified by an independent examiner.

They show that the charity is reliant on financial support from Amey James and is operating on a going-concern basis, assuming her continued support.

They also record a disputed £80,000 water bill from South East Water, which the charity is challenging, and confirm that the landlord has indicated an intention not to renew the charity’s lease this year.

The charity says it is fundraising to buy the land and secure the sanctuary’s long-term future, launching a GoFundMe appeal seeking £500,000 to purchase the site, telling supporters that without buying the land, it would have to vacate the site by September last year. As it stands, the GoFundMe has nearly £29,000.

In the appeal, Ms James wrote that she and the animals would “devastatingly” have to leave the site unless the land could be bought, describing the situation as “heartbreaking” and saying she was doing everything she could to save the sanctuary.

Other appeals have sought funds to cover legal fees to challenge council enforcement action and to meet the costs of complying with regulatory requirements following an avian influenza outbreak that led to the culling of more than 160 birds at the sanctuary last year. In that appeal, the charity said it had been left with less than £1,000 in available funds after the outbreak and was facing urgent testing costs of £16,000 for its pig herd under public health rules.

Charity Commission records show a long history of late statutory reporting by the charity.

Accounts and annual returns for four of the last five years were filed between 11 and 14 months late. The charity is currently overdue again for its 2025 return.

The case is unfolding less than a kilometre from Basser Hill, one of several large illegal waste sites around Sittingbourne that have become a national test of how quickly regulators can shut down unlawful land use once it becomes established.

As the Kent Current has previously reported, dumping has continued at Basser Hill and nearby Raspberry Hill Farm long after regulators became aware of the sites. The Environment Agency has issued instructions to stop activity and clear waste, but operations have continued while enforcement action works its way through the system.

For communities around Sittingbourne, the question is not just whether unlawful activity can be stopped, but whether it can be stopped quickly enough to prevent lasting damage.

For supporters of the sanctuary, the case of Happy Pants has become a deeply emotional fight to protect a place they see as a refuge for animals that would otherwise have nowhere to go.

For neighbouring residents, it has been a years-long dispute over noise, disturbance and the impact of a large commercial operation on open countryside.

And for the council, it has become a test of how far planning and environmental law can stretch when a fast-growing and popular charity outpaces its regulatory footing.

With the compliance period now expired and the council unable to confirm that the enforcement notice has been complied with, Swale Borough Council says it is reviewing the case and deciding on next steps.

What happens in the coming weeks will determine whether Happy Pants Ranch can find a lawful future on the site, or whether the charity will once again be forced to relocate hundreds of animals.

Either way, the outcome will shape how Kent’s authorities respond when land use changes faster than enforcement can keep up.

Kent's ongoing water farce

We're trying not write about water in every edition, but it's hard to get away from it at the moment. This week, tens of thousands of homes around Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks, Maidstone, and Canterbury have once again suffered supply interruptions. In other water news:

• Regulator Ofwat has announced an investigation into South East Water to see whether it has complied with the terms of its licence.
• Prime Minister Keir Starmer has described the situation as 'clearly totally unacceptable.' If only there were someone in a position of power who could step in and do something.
• Few things unite across party lines in Kent, other than a consensus that South East Water boss David Hinton should resign. Lib Dem MP Mike Martin was the first to call for him to go, and has since been joined by MPs Tom Tugendhat, Helen Grant, and Helen Whately, Rosie Duffield, and Reform leader of KCC, Linden Kemkaran.
• He might not go that easily, given he's in line for a £400,000 bonus regardless of performance if he stays in post until 2030.
• Several communities have reported no support from South East Water and have instead created their own support networks.
• The delightfully named Dry Wells Action group in Tunbridge Wells have called for the army to be sent in to sort everything out.
• Two separate pubs in Tunbridge Wells, The Abergavenny Arms and The Bull, have said they are at risk of going under if supply issues continue.
• Shops across the areas with supply issues are struggling to keep up with demand for bottled water.

Three more councillors jump ship to Reform

Three more district councillors in Kent have defected to Reform, continuing the steady collapse of Conservative representation across local government in the county.

Thanet’s Barry Manners, Gravesham’s Dakota Dibben and Sevenoaks councillor Laurence Ball have all announced this week that they are now sitting as Reform representatives, having been elected as Conservatives in 2023.

Manners, who represents Cliftonville East, left the Conservatives last year and has been sitting as an independent since May. Announcing his move, he said he had joined Reform because “local people deserve honest representation, strong accountability, and councillors who are prepared to challenge business as usual,” adding that the party represents “our last real chance to reverse the managed decline of the last 30 years.”

As a Reform councillor, Manners says he will now be able to sit on Thanet District Cuncil committees and link local priorities to national policy discussions. His social media presence is an eclectic mix of foreign travel, Trump-era US politics and Chinese Communist Party artwork, while Companies House records list him as a resident of Thailand, the United States, as well as, helpfully for his role, England.

In Gravesham, Dakota Dibben, councillor for Istead Rise, Cobham & Luddesdown, was elected as a Conservative in 2023 and has now joined Reform’s growing group on the council. Outside of politics, his online presence is dominated not by an enthusiasm for model railways.

Sevenoaks councillor Laurence Ball, who represents Farningham, Horton Kirby & South Darenth, has been a Conservative councillor for more than a decade and previously served as mayor of Swanley and chairman of the council. A part-time self-employed chess coach, he is now the second Reform councillor on the authority.

Reform does not control any district councils in Kent, but it remains the ruling group at County Hall. The party’s grip on county power has already been weakened by internal rows and expulsions, yet its ability to lure sitting Conservative councillors says more about the state of the Tory brand in Kent than it does about Reform’s long-term prospects.

Footnotes

Programming note: Our Chief Conversationalist, Steven Keevil, had an unexpected period in hospital this week. While he's doing better, he, perhaps unsurprisingly, hasn't been able to file a Sunday interview this week. As such, there won't be one this week, but we should be back on track next week.

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