Peterborough dog walking business has planning permission rejected

Jason Dean said he had no idea using the field would "cause this much trouble"

The owner of a dog walking business says he "felt like a criminal" after he was denied planning permission.

Jason Dean, 41, said he was unaware permission was needed to change the use of an agricultural field to a dog exercise park.

Retrospective plans for the site near the Bronze Age Flag Fen settlement were rejected by Peterborough City Council.

The Dog Play Company was told future works risked a £50,000 fine and criminal prosecution.

Mr Dean started the business in 2016 "regularly walking dogs".

The Dog Play Company has grown in popularity since it was founded

The business grew and in 2022 the landowners granted him use of the field for exercising the dogs.

Dog play equipment, a shipping container for storage, wooden shed, and extra fencing, were added to the site without planning consent.

As the land, between the junction of The Droveway and Northey Road, is near an ancient monument, Historic England deemed the additions "unauthorised works".

But, because it deemed the works were relatively superficial, the heritage agency said it would not take further action and it was "best considered as a planning matter".

Around 22 letters of support were submitted, one of which deemed the site of "good community value"

The council refused retrospective planning permission despite 22 letters of support, one of which deemed it of "good community value", as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mr Dean said that when he first moved on to the field he was told by landowners not to worry about planning permission as it would be "used for a similar purpose - before it had horses; now it would have dogs".

"I didn't think I was doing anything wrong or that changing the land from an agricultural field to a dog exercise park would cause this much trouble," he said.

"Everything comes with consequences when you don't follow the rules, but as a small business, I did not know it would be seen as making a big change.

"I felt like a criminal seeing it reported that we could face those fines, it is damaging."

Dog play equipment, a shipping container for storage, wooden shed, and extra fencing, were added without planning consent

Mr Dean said "it is still a field... there are no permanent changes to the land" and he planned to appeal against the decision.

He added that several of his customers were XL bully owners and required the enclosed space.

He said he was unaware permission was needed to change the use of the field

The council, which is led by the Peterborough First group as a minority administration, said because there would be four part-time staff on site, there was "a clear potential for an increase in traffic".

It added that there was insufficient information submitted by the applicant about how this would be managed.

In its decision notice, it said: "In future, you should refrain from undertaking any physical works on site without the required Ancient Monuments consent or risk a criminal prosecution and penalties to a maximum of £50,000."

It added that the application was not in line with planning policy because it would constitute a development in the countryside, which is outside its Local Plan.