Tipi wedding venue proposed for Staffordshire farmland
Newlyweds may get to celebrate their nuptials in tipis in the Staffordshire countryside if Stafford Borough Council says “I do” to a request for planning consent.
A seasonal tipi wedding venue has been proposed for land off Horsley Road at Elford Heath, near Eccleshall.
Lincolnshire-based Kata Tipis Ltd has popped the planning question to Stafford Borough Council – and if the answer is yes tipis could be installed on farmland for seven months each year for use as a reception venue. The venture would create up to four full time jobs.
A planning statement submitted as part of the application described the proposal as “a low-key temporary event space to host weddings during the summer season.”
It said: “The intention is to create an attractive wedding venue in a rural location. This temporary use of the site will support the existing farming business at Butterley Heyes Farm as part of a rural diversification scheme. The applicant has been successful in gaining planning permission for similar proposals in the countryside elsewhere in England.
“The site is associated with the surrounding farm land but unusable for agricultural purposes due to its topography.
“The four tipis form an interconnecting event space erected on site in April and removed following the completion of the wedding season in October each year. Wedding ceremonies will take place off site.
“The tipis are canvas and are sand in colour. Each individual tipi has a maximum height of 6.8m and a width of 10.3m. The total floor space of the interconnected space is 345 sq m. This provides for a bar, seating areas and dance floor.
“The outside space is normally set out with informal seating for guests to enjoy during the reception but with no live music outside the tipis. Portable toilets will be provided on site and brought to the site for each event by an external supplier.
“The tipis have capacity for 150 guests but the average number of guests is usually lower, at around 86. It is anticipated that there would be no more than three events per week during the months identified for operation, the total number of events being in the region of 30-40 per season.”
Activity on the site would be limited to decoration by the bridal party the afternoon before an event and the function itself, the statement added. On a wedding day access to the site for the bridal party would be from 12.20pm, with last orders at the bar at 11.30pm, music off at midnight and the site vacated by 12.30am.
Bar and catering service providers would be able to access the site from 9.30am at the earliest on the day of a function.
The statement said: “Catering is arranged by each wedding party separately and usually involves mobile catering vehicles, such as pizza vans or similar, coming to the site for a short period on the day of the event. Vehicular access to the site is from an existing point of access to the north of Horsley Lane.
“Power will be supplied by a generator. All refuse on site will be sorted, removed and disposed of by the external suppliers.
“The proposal, when fully operational, will create up to four full time jobs and will support a significant number of indirect jobs through local supply chains with agreements with local providers for catering, servicing, flowers, music, etc. The use will attract visitors to the area who will use local accommodation and are likely to visit other attractions in the area.”
