A North Staffordshire farm that received overwhelming support has won its bid to remain open. Bobby's Ice Cream Parlour based at Springfields Farm on Hulme Lane near Werrington has won their bid for planning permission.

A total of 344 letters of support have been received for the application compared to 49 against. Werrington Parish Council offered its support to the proposal but raised concerns around safe access, highway safety concerns were also highlighted by residents living nearby.

Jane McGowan objected to the application and told councillors: "The applicant will gain financially from this business but his neighbours will pay the price with loss of privacy and noise pollution. The applicant has chosen to have the outside eating area next to his neighbours homes and gardens as opposed to his. 

"If the outside eating area was to the south it would also mean customers and their children would not have to cross moving traffic to sit outside. Cars travelling to the premises if they miss the entrance frequently use our drive and frontage to turn their vehicles around on, yet another problem for me and our other neighbours to deal with."

Husband-and-wife duo Craig and Natalie Taylor are behind the venture and lodged the part-retrospective planning application for the conversion of a former agricultural building into retail use as well as the creation of a parking area and improvements to vehicle access.

Natalie Taylor, one of the people behind the venture said: "I would like to firstly apologise to everyone for allowing things to come to this when we opened Bobby's we were a little naive and foolish. We did not do our proper research and did not realise the correct procedure surrounding it.

"We have never been in a situation like this before, we also never expected the responses it first got. However, I can assure you that we have learnt from our mistakes and we shall not make these mistakes again. 

"We apologise to our neighbours that have made comments regarding Bobby's and we have taken action based on their comments. We are a young growing, hard working family and have recently moved into Springfield Farm and have both lived in the area all of our lives."

The business employs eight locals ranging from ages 14 to 76 and supports local charities, recently sponsoring a calendar for prostate cancer research. The site is fully disabled accessible and the venue frequently holds days for children with special educational needs.

Bobby's have already made changes to the business in response to the comments made by neighbours including removing play equipment and inflatables. 

Councillors at Staffordshire Moorlands District Council overwhelmingly backed the application with Councillor Keith Hoptroff (Lab) telling members of the planning committee: "It looks like a very good set-up, welcome in the countryside for tourism and for a young family trying to run a good business using local workers. So I fully support."

Councillor Oliver Pointon (Con) added: "I fully support this, I think it's a great idea that you can go there for free, take your kids. I think it's needed and like I say you have my full support with the application"

Several conditions to the application were added including the introduction of a hedge on the boundary to shield against privacy and noise concerns and that only low level lighting can be used. Only one member of the planning committee abstained in voting with the other voting for approval.

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