Wiltshire animal therapy firm operating without permission

Herd Thyme provides animal-assisted therapy, education and alternative provision for children and young people, including students with special educational needs and social, emotional and mental health needs, and has operated as a tenant on the land and buildings north of Dark Lane, Crofton, near Great Bedwyn since April 2025.

However, following a review of a different planning application for the site, the council has advised the owners of the land that the business has yet to be granted official permission to do so.

The landlords made a retrospective planning application to Wiltshire Council on September 29, seeking "full planning application for the mixed agricultural, educational, therapeutic and animal-assisted use together with the retention and completion of the associated car park".

As stated in planning documents, Herd Thyme is registered with Wiltshire Council as an Alternative Provision provider, and students are referred by schools across a catchment including Wiltshire, Berkshire, Hampshire and Somerset, with the majority of placements funded by Wiltshire Council.

With the retrospective proposal, the company is looking regularise its service, and is not proposing a substantial new building or a materially expanded complex of development within the countryside.

Buildings on the farm site. (Image: Wiltshire Council)

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In documents attached to the plans, the applicants explain that they had been originally seeking permission for the hardstanding and the car park.

However, while that proposal was under review, the council found that the use of the land by the business was being carried out without approval.

Herd Thyme, which relocated to the new buildings so its previous site elsewhere on the farm could be used for agricultural purposes, currently occupies four buildings: two of which, a studio with an adjoining store and porch, and a separate hay barn are recent additions that require retrospective planning consent. The other two are historic and have been used for agriculture and a builders yard.

The remaining two buildings are historic and have been used for agriculture and a builder's yard, but all buildings are now used by Herd Thyme.

In their conclusion, the applicant - who provides a specialist alternative education and therapeutic service for children and young people - urge the council to green-light the plans.

The conclusion reads: "The animals, land and quiet countryside environment are fundamental to the service provided.

"There is therefore a clear functional justification for the rural location that could not readily be replicated within a conventional urban building."

They add that the proposal delivers "substantial educational, therapeutic, community and public health benefits."

The consultation window for the proposal closed on November 5, with Wiltshire Council now expected to make a decision.