Bridgnorth poultry farm fight heads to appeal court
Campaigners against plans for a poultry farm near Bridgnorth have successfully applied for the case to be heard at the Court of Appeal.
Tasley Chicken Factory Farm Action Group last year organised a protest outside a farm where the owners want to produce 1,570,000 broiler chickens a year in four large sheds.
Now following a judicial review a senior judge said the issues raised by the group merits consideration by a full appeal panel.
The residents' group is challenging a decision by Shropshire Council to grant planning permission for the scheme at Footbridge Farm.
In a statement the action group said: "We are absolutely delighted to have won a final chance to stop this travesty of a factory farm being built so close to our homes and beautiful town of Bridgnorth.
“We are deeply concerned about the health hazards this so-called farm would bring to our town.”
Tasley farmer Matthew Bower lodged plans to produce the chickens and under the plans more than 2,300 tonnes of manure would be produced every year, to be spread on the land and on other neighbouring fields. A representative said that a similar development in Ludlow was the same distance away from houses and had no objections when it was expanded.
The application received more than 300 objections in total. While more than 40 residents some waving placards held a demonstration over noise, dust, smells, and health issues if the plans were to go ahead.
But the council's approval decision in 2017 was challenged in London's High Court by the group over “inadequacies” in the manure management report, but at the time a judge found there was nothing unlawful about the council's actions.
It is this ruling that is being appealed by the campaigners due to fears over smell, dust and potential health implications.
The group said it is taking the case to the Court of Appeal to ensure that councils across the country do not turn a blind eye to the risk of environmental impacts when they consider new applications. It added that the case raises important issues about how planning applications for this type of development are considered.
It claimed ventilation fans at the farm, which is a few hundred yards from homes, would disperse odour and waste particles in the surrounding area, and the manure would be spread on land as fertiliser, locally and elsewhere in the county. It also claimed the council refused to consider where the manure would go and what impact it would have on residents.
And that and approval was given for this chicken operation, the government had recognised that the emissions from such farms and from fertiliser application, can contribute to atmospheric pollution and to the formation of smog in built up areas.
The group said it now needs to raise £1,500 towards the campaign before the end of January to start preparations for the Court of Appeal hearing.
It has set up an online fund to cover legal costs via www.crowdjustice.com/case/stoptasleychickenfactoryfarm2.
