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Helping to secure planning permission

12 July 2011

Telling a strong story at the right time is at the heart of helping many companies to win hearts and minds.

Hugh Lowe Farms, the 125-year-old soft fruit producers based at Mereworth, was a classic case in point. The local authority had demanded they produce a full farm plan as part of their ambition to secure permission for the continued use of agricultural polytunnels on its land.

Polytunnels may be a contentious issue for many rural residents due to their visual impact, but who doesn’t love a strawberry, and they play an important part in the nation’s summer.



Maxim was tasked with helping put the case for Hugh Lowe Farm’s application. The fact that they are the supplier of strawberries to the official caterers to Wimbledon and that year also provided strawberries to the Open Golf Championship, held in Kent, was manna from PR heaven. ITV’s Daybreak, the BBC’s One Show and Blue Peter visited, and even ‘Golden Girl’ Dame Kelly Holmes called in to be filmed picking strawberries for the mystery personality round of the BBC’s A Question of Sport.

There was a strong planning and economic case and after securing strong media coverage of the farm’s role in these national institutions, plus briefings and site visits for local councillors and stakeholders, the planning committee voted unanimously to approve the application.

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