The original application was for a 1.8m horizontally close boarded timber fence around the two road frontages of Fields 331 and 332, facing La Rue de la Sergente and La Rue du Petit Port (B44). Also new granite walls edging an “existing lawn” at the access point onto La Rue de la Sergente with 1.8m granite pillars and 1.9m solid timber gates. This access is used by the applicant as his residential access. A name stone has been placed here, the field hedging re-aligned to form a visibility splay and a striped, mown lawn created. The applicants no longer seek permission for the fencing and walls but have requested a Ministerial Decision as to whether the “lawn”, gates and pillars are exempt development, stating that they are to be constructed on land that is residential curtilage. No evidence is given to support this statement. This case hinges on where the boundaries of the residential curtilage are. Fields 331 and 332 are classed as Grade B Agricultural Land. No application has been made to change the use of these and they therefore do not form part of the residential curtilage but have been in the ownership of the applicant since at least 1980. A legitimate use of them, according to the Land Control and Agricultural Development Section, would be as orchard. A driveway leading over Field 332 to La Tourelle is shown on a 1996 OS Plan (Appendix B) but not on that dated 1991(Appendix C) No application has been made for this access. As a field access only planning permission would not have been required. An application was made in 1981 for a new access from the B44, between Fields 370 and 331, to the “Cottage”, now called La Tourelle. The site plan is appended as D. This was approved but not constructed. No field access across Field 332 is shown at this point. An application in 1982 to convert the east/west wing (presumably to form La Tourelle as a separate dwelling from L’Hermitage) does show an “existing entrance and driveway” across the field (see Appendix E) However site plans received concerning various works to La Tourelle between 1983 and 1990 again show no field access and, more particularly, no driveway to the house from La Rue de la Sergente (see Appendices F, G and H) At this point La Tourelle, L’Harmonie and Fareham appear to have all been using the access onto the B44. The evidence to confirm when the field access was created and when this was extended with a driveway over the field to La Tourelle is conflicting and inconclusive. It is quite probable that a legitimate field access was formed and that, when the property was divided to extend and create La Tourelle separate to L’Harmonie, the field access has become established as a preferred residential access without having been formally applied for. The residential curtilage however remains the south western boundary of Field 332. This would be the correct location for residential style gates and lawns. To legitimise the current situation, planning permission is required for this access to be used as a combined field and residential access, and in this case the name stone for the house is appropriate, but any other domestication at this point is not, and would be contrary to Policy C6. Timber post and rail fencing and a five bar field gate would be appropriate around the fields and at the access point, and would require planning permission. This case is one of creeping domestication across agricultural land. A joint visit to the site was made recently by Mike Porter, Enforcement Officer, and Hilary Robertson of Land Control and Agricultural Development Section to investigate unauthorised tipping and levelling of soil on Fields 331 and 332 and the use of Field 370 as garden. Fields 331 and 332, although owned by the applicant, do not form part of the residential curtilage of La Tourelle, contrary to the agent’s statement, but remain agricultural. Consequently there is no exempt development right to erect gates, pillars or form a domesticated lawn. Security and privacy can be increased at the point where the legitimate domestic curtilage abuts Field 332. | 
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