Hallswood owner optimistic about future

The owner of an animal sanctuary threatened with closure because of planning regulations has said she is 'optimistic about its future' and will be applying for planning permission this month.

Lyz Hall, who takes in sick and injured wildlife at Hallswood in Stratton Strawless, is urging people to write letters of support for her application, which will be sent to Broadland District Council in place of the appeal she had been planning to launch.

Mrs Hall has faced a long battle to gain legal approval for the site, which was opened in 1997 by her late husband Keith Hall, who appealed against an enforcement notice issued in 2006 after the council looked into whether he needed planning permission in order to operate on the site.

He was given temporary permission for three years, which has since expired, and a fresh application by Mrs Hall was refused in December. She had planned to appeal against the decision, but now says that both her solicitors and the government-linked organisation Planning Aid have advised her to apply for planning permission instead, which she hopes will be approved.

Mrs Hall, 30, said: 'We have been advised to reset our planning rather than appeal, and we think the council will look upon our application favourably.

'We are looking for letters of support to add weight to it - we've got about 150 at the moment, which is a good start, but we would like some more.

'We have been very busy recently - we've got some baby birds of prey and lots of other animals which have come in to us.

'If they turn us down we will simply keep appealing. We won't give up. It's a much-needed facility and a tribute to my husband.'

Please send any letters of support to Mrs Hall at Hallswood Wildlife Sanctuary, Short Thorn Road, Stratton Strawless, Norfolk, NR10 5NU.

Are you fighting a planning application? Or do you have another story for the Evening News? Call Sam Emanuel on 01603 772438 or email sam.emanuel@archant.co.uk.