Planning refused. The barns, shop and offices have been ordered down. Add your name and help us fight it.
Sign nowOakley built this from selling eggs at fifteen into a farm that employs eight full-time staff and fifteen seasonal staff throughout the year, and rears more than eighty water buffalo. The council has refused planning, and the buildings he needs to keep going are due to come down.
What's happening
After a long fight, the planning appeal has failed. Oakleys Farm has been ordered to remove the barns, the farm shop, the offices and the facilities the business runs on. Without them, the farm cannot operate.
Oakley's story
How the farm was built, what the ruling means, and why it matters well beyond one family.
Who depends on Oakleys Farm
A planning line on a map does not capture what the farm holds up. This does.
Eight full-time staff and fifteen seasonal workers. Twenty-three livelihoods that go when the buildings do.
Cafés, shops and pubs across the Moorlands buy Oakleys meat. Lose the farm and they lose a supplier they trust.
Families come to see where their food is reared. It is one of the few places left that still shows them.
Farm-to-fork buffalo, reared on site with a small footprint. Exactly the farming the country says it wants.
This is a working farm that earns its keep, employs local people and feeds local kitchens. Tearing it down protects nobody and costs everybody.
From the farm
A working farm, in pictures. Swipe, tap the arrows, or use your keyboard.
Where the support is coming from
Every dot is a postcode area with supporters. The top areas are listed beside the map.
Our goals
Signatures
Businesses backing
Letters to the council
Every name adds to the pressure. The more of us who stand up, the harder this is for the council, the local MP and the press to ignore.
Run a local business? You can do both — add your name as a resident and endorse your business. They count as two separate kinds of support.
Check your inbox to complete your signature.
[email protected]Not there within a minute or two? Check your spam or junk folder.
One quick favourIf our confirmation email lands in your spam or junk folder, please mark it as “Not junk”. It helps make sure our emails reach you and other supporters.
While you wait, spread the word
Share your personal link with friends, family and neighbours. Every person who signs through it helps grow the petition.
Your personal link
https://saveoakleysfarm.co.uk/?ref=…
Take it one step further — email the council.
A personal email in your own words counts for more than a name on a list. Use our composer — it's drafted for you.
Open the council email composerAdd your business endorsement — it carries real weight with the council.
Questions
Straight answers about what this petition is, what it does, and how we keep it honest.
On its own, no. Planning decisions are made on planning grounds, not on how many people object. What this petition does is show the council, the local councillors, the MP and the press the sheer scale of support for the farm — and that pressure matters. The more of us who stand up, and the more who write to the council directly, the harder this is to ignore.
Yes, and it helps if you do. Adding your name as a resident counts toward the headline total. Endorsing as a business is a separate, named, publicly-shown statement of support that carries its own weight with the council. If you run a local business that values the farm, do both.
Every sign-up is one person and one email address, with rate-limiting and bot protection on every entry, and the whole list is timestamped and de-duplicated. We also email each signatory to confirm their support. That's exactly so the numbers stand up to scrutiny when they're put in front of the council.
Yes. We never sell or share your details. Publicly we only ever show your first name and broad area (the first half of your postcode), and only if you choose to. Your email and full details are used to verify your signature and nothing else.
Two things, once you've signed. Share your link so more local people add their names, and email the council and your councillor in your own words. A personal email from a local resident or business counts for far more than a name on a list — we've drafted one you can edit and send in a minute.
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, the people who represent the area, and the wider public. We'll present the full total of signatures and the business endorsements as evidence of how strongly the community wants this farm kept open.
At any time. Use the Remove me from the register link in the footer (or in any email we send you) and we'll delete your details from the petition. No questions asked.
Explore the campaign
The people and businesses standing with Oakleys Farm.
If your business benefits from Oakleys Farm being open, your endorsement carries real weight with the council.