THE council has hit back at claims it wants to close a children's farm saying it had “no choice” but to ask an inspector to step in because the owners refused to apply for planning permission.

Staff at Belmont Children's Farm in The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, protested outside Hendon Town Hall last night at the proposals for usage put forward by Barnet Council which they claim will close them down.

Neighbours have complained to the council about the farm, which opened in 2009 and attracted 70,000 visitors in its first year.

But, a council statement said: “The Belmont Children’s Farm is an unauthorised use which requires planning permission.

"The council has advised the owner of the farm that the principle of the children’s farm is supported by the council but the use needs to be properly controlled.

“Despite repeated requests that retrospective planning permission be sought, no planning application has been submitted.”

There will be a round-table planning meeting with the inspector on Tuesday, June 21, when a series of conditions will be put forward by council officers in a bid to curb use of the farm, which is also home to stables.

The statement added: "In order to ensure activities on the farm are properly controlled and in the absence of a planning application to regulate the use, the council has had no option but to serve a planning enforcement notice requiring the current use to cease.

"In the appeal proceedings, the council will be inviting the inspector to grant planning permission for the children’s farm use, subject to relevant and necessary planning conditions."

These include the council setting the entry fee, restricting the capacity of the waffle cafe, reducing parking on the site and saying where certain animals can be housed to reduce the nuisance for neighbours.

But a statement from the farm said the restrictions would stop them operating a viable business and denied the farm needs special planning permission, as there has been a working farm there for many years.