A COMMUNITY project near Hatherleigh has been granted planning permission for major improvements to its facilities which it says will benefit the community.

The Made-Well project runs a community food growing project which provides training, support and employment opportunities for disadvantaged or marginalised members of society.

The project has been trialled at West Fishleigh Farm for the past 12 months, and the project has now been granted planning permission to make significant improvements to its facilities on the site.

Joanna Winterburn, Made-Well project manager, said: 'The planning decision is going to be brilliant for the project. It will allow us to have purpose-built facilities, which will really help our students. We're a community interest project, so this is great news for the whole community.'

A redundant barn will be converted into a training and educational centre, while an agricultural shed will be given a new lease of life as a small café and shop. A new agricultural building will also be built, which will house the animals and enable easy access for feeding and cleaning.

Ms Winterburn said the shop would support the work of the project: 'The shop will definitely only be selling goods produced on the farm. We have plenty of ground to grow our own vegetables on the farm, and a late addition to the plan is that we're going to have our own meat sold in the shop too. As a not-for-profit organisation, all the money raised from the shop will be poured straight back into the project.'