Former agricultural land in Upton Lovell will now be used to train and exercise dogs.

The field adjacent to Up Street in Upton Lovell will now be used by a local dog training and walking business following a decision by the Western Area Planning Committee.

Permission was given to Lorna Street who runs Wiltshire Dog Care and put in the change of use bid at the meeting earlier this week.

In 2018, the committee granted two-year temporary planning permission, which allowed Mrs Street to use the land during this time and for officers to gauge the application.

After the case officer, David Cox gave his presentation, Maria Ironside spoke to object to the bid.

She said the business would bring nothing to the area and said that the field had been used ‘infrequently’ during the two-year trial period.

Adding: “We have few open spaces in the village and the siting of a business on the edge of a very small lane will remove the amenity of the village’s enjoyment of what little open space there is.”

Residents in objection also made note of the hedgerows ‘encroaching onto the road’, the ‘sporadic’ use the field has seen during the two years and the access to public areas in which people could exercise dogs.

Because of this, they say, the temporary permission was not representative of the potential noise from barking dogs.

Mark Street spoke in favour of the application, he said that Covid has ‘seriously impacted’ Wiltshire Dog Care and the future was uncertain but that the use of the land was still important.

Addressing the concerns, Mr Street said that new legislation meant that when walking more than six dogs, the business required the use of private land.

The conditions of the approval, which include only nine dogs being allowed on the site at any one time and strict operating times of 9-5pm Monday to Friday would give ‘adequate protection’ from noise, said case officer, David Cox.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, plans had been submitted to the council for the land to be used for housing – both applications were rejected.

In his letter of representation, the land’s previous owner, Philip Street, said that the land had not been used for sheep since 1999.