‘PUT PEOPLE BEFORE POULTRY PROFITS’: HARPER ADAMS-LINKED POULTRY FARM HIT BY OBJECTIONS

18 Jul

Residents in Edgmond, near Newport in Shropshire are fighting back against an application for a £6m chicken farm which would house 180,000 broiler chicks at a time. Meese Farming of Lilleshall is requesting permission to build four poultry units on land close to the specialist Harper Adams University.

The plans, which have already proved controversial after Harper Adams pushed back on suggestions it had strongly endorsed the application, have generated around hundred objections on the Telford & Wrekin planning portal with no supporting comments.

Local residents have objected to the noise, smell, and pollution that the farm will produce while also noting the devastating effects poultry farming has on rivers like the Severn. Neighbouring Shropshire Council recently lost a High Court battle over a 200,000-bird intensive poultry unit near Shrewsbury in the River Severn catchment, suggesting that legal challenges could be possible.

Objectors on the planning portal have rejected the plans, highlighting the pollution the farm will create and questioning the educational value of the new poultry sheds.

Local resident Mary Parry-Sargent commented:

‘Although any learning facility is to be encouraged, my impression is that it is a commercial chicken enterprise, with the addition of a classroom, not an education centre, with the added facility of a very small chicken shed.’

Another local resident, John Hammersley, commented:

‘The development is not in keeping with rural village life, and in no way enhances Edgmond, given that it will only create two more jobs. We understand that despite the application stating support from Harper Adams University this is not in fact the case. Battery farming of any kind is unethical, and despite statements to the contrary generates unacceptable amounts of waste contributing to pollution of the ecosystem. Overall this application has no merit other than considerable disruption for the village, contributing nothing to the village, except vast profits for the owners.’

Bini Pitwell from Communities Against Factory Farming, which has been supporting Shropshire residents in the fight against new poultry units, says:

‘This isn’t the first Shropshire chicken farm application to generate huge controversy locally this year. People are beginning to realise that these intensive poultry units have a devastating impact on local communities – in terms of air and water pollution, bad smells, and traffic disruption. It’s time to say enough’s enough. We need to start putting the needs of local people before the profits of the poultry bosses. We encourage all Shropshire residents to object before this beautiful county is turned into a mountain of chicken manure.’

The deadline for comments on the application is 21 July and objections can be sent using CAFF’s online tool: https://www.caff.org.uk/edgmond

ENDS

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