Over 400 animals are set to be put down after neighbours complained about the noise at their sanctuary. The rescue charity looks after cats, dogs and pigs. But after locals complained it was taken to court.
The Happy Pants Ranch has now lost a legal appeal against an eviction notice. Owner, Amey James, says if she cannot re-locate the sanctuary before the nine-month notice is up, the animals will be destroyed. The charity in Newington, near Sittingbourne, Kent, cares for animals, most of which have special needs, including an epileptic pig, a blind and deaf dog, and three-legged cats.
In 2021 the sanctuary moved to the 20-acre site but has been subject to numerous noise complaints from its neighbours. The eviction is the culmination of a three-year battle with Swale Council to turn the use of the land from agricultural to animal rescue. After the first planning appeal was refused, Happy Pants was issued an eviction notice.
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Amey appealed but this week found out it had been denied. Now she has been given nine months to leave the land but says she does not have the funds to relocate. She said: āIām not quite sure how to put this because Iām finding it difficult to actually process this properly but I just found out that we lost the planning decision appeal and have been told we have nine months to vacate the land.
“Although I always knew there was a chance of this utterly heartbreaking outcome Iāve always tried to be so positive. Iām beyond devastated and feel in fact that my world, which is what this sanctuary is, just collapsed. Right now my head and my heart both physically hurt.
“Thank you to every, single one of those people who has supported me, the charity and all The Ranch animals in this long, stressful, costly, completely unnecessary battle.” She said she could barely contemplate the consequences if she can’t relocate. “If we canāt move and we canāt stay, the animals will have to find homes,” she said.
“But of course that will be very difficult as they all came here because no one else would take them in due to age, medical conditions or behavioural issues. And if they canāt find homes then thereāll be no choices left. But over my dead body will I let anything happen to these animals.
“Theyāre my family and I promised them theyād be safe for the rest of their lives. So I have to do everything I can do to make sure that happens.” She said: “But ultimately as the charity has no money to move anywhere, the council is signing these animals’ death warrants.
“Because it begs the question if an animal sanctuary is not allowed in this rural location, then where is one allowed?”
A spokesperson for Swale Council said: āThe Happy Pants Ranch applied for retrospective planning approval in 2021 and after assessing the application against national planning policy and our own local planning policies this was rejected. A planning enforcement notice was issued in 2022 to rectify these breaches, in line with our policies.
āThe notice was subsequently appealed by the applicant, and an inspector appointed by the Secretary of State dismissed the appeal, upheld our notice – subject to variations and agreed with our original refusal of planning permission. The enforcement notice requires that the mixed use of the site stops and that the land needs to be restored to its original condition before the breaches took place.ā
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