A BAILDON farm has revealed plans to add a new milk vending machine to its business.

Low Springs Farm, Hawksworth Road, wants to create a timber hut to house the piece of kit. The vending machine would give members of the public an opportunity to buy "farm fresh pasteurised milk at their convenience".

An application to Bradford Council says: "The majority of the milk produced by the dairy herd would continue to be collected daily by milk tanker and taken off site to be bottled and sold in

supermarkets.

"However, a vending machine would allow the applicant to sell a small percentage of the total milk his herd produces at a price above that which he receives from the supermarket sales, yet still pass on a saving to customers by allowing them to buy direct from the farm.

"Essentially the vending machine would cut out the ‘middle man’ for an element of the overall milk sales, providing a small additional income to the farm, whilst providing a sustainable ‘from the source’ service to locals who regularly travel along Hawksworth Road."

It adds: "The milk vending machine would be a refrigerated unit, which would need to be housed undercover to both protect the apparatus and ensure customers can access the machine throughout the year, without the restriction of inclement weather.

"For health and safety reasons (due to the presence of agricultural vehicles and livestock) it is not possible to allow members of the public to enter any of the existing buildings at Low Springs Farm, as they are all in working agricultural use, and so the milk vending machine will need to be housed within its own self-contained building."

The farm is seeking planning permission for a "simple timber cabin" to house the machine.

It would be "small in scale" and stained a light brown colour to complement the surroundings.