The owner of a popular Alpaca Centre in Horwich will  hear today whether the five star attraction can continue.

A planning application for  Poppywood Alpacas is recommended for approval by Bolton Council's planning officers.

Pippa Berry started the farm at a site in Wilderswood, Horwich, after a riding accident left her unable to run the site as a stud.

She started the alpaca centre off Brownlow Road but, around two years ago, she switched it for another building with additional facilities including a cafe and a classroom.

(Image: Pippa Berry) She was under the impression there was no need for planning permission after contact with Bolton Council but she later learnt this was not the case.

The planning permission application has proposed for the continued use of the site as an alpaca walking centre, which has been used since May 2021, along with the erection of a detached timber building for use as an ancillary café, classroom, a gift shop and erection of a field shelter.

Pippa said: “We asked the planning department in 2020, when we planned to change the business to an alpaca walking centre, whether we’d need permission to walk them, and we were told we didn’t.

(Image: Pippa Berry) “We’ve since converted one of the buildings to function as a tearoom, gift shop and a classroom for students. We lodged a planning application and didn’t get a response, despite trying to contact the council on multiple occasions.

“Fourteen months later we had someone from the council visit since the conversion, who rejected our initial application because we didn’t have planning permission for walking the alpacas – which we were told we didn’t need.

“We’ve since had three planning officers assigned to the case, people keep leaving or passing us along to someone else, we’ve been waiting for two years and feel like we aren’t getting anywhere.”

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(Image: Pippa Berry) Pipa said: “It’s been a very difficult period for us.

“We do lots of community work with hospices, care homes and Ladywood School. We’re a popular attraction, but we always know the amount of people coming to visit and we keep the numbers low.

“You’d think we were building a Trafford Centre, we have low numbers and alpacas are silent, so there’s minimal noise pollution, much less than when the business had horses.

“It’s been a really difficult journey, we feel like we’re finally at the end of the tunnel and hope that we’ll pull through on Thursday.

“We’re so worried about losing our home, our livelihood. This is our full-time job, we don’t have a back up plan. Mark, my partner is having to look at delivery driver positions. Our daughters were really keen to keep the business in the family and take over when they were old enough, now we’ve told them it might not be possible.

“We don’t know if we will lose our home. We could’ve given up, but don’t want to do that because of our loyal customers. We’re worried if we lose the farm we’ll have to rehome the alpacas too, which would be devastating.

“We’re all praying it doesn’t come to this. The alpacas saved me when I had my accident, they make people smile and keep them happy – that’s all we want to keep doing.”

Got a story? E-mail me at Leah.collins@newsquest.co.uk