Residents Oppose Plans for 40,000-Bird Poultry Facility on Edge of Oxfordshire's ‘Downton Abbey Village’
18 May 2026
Residents oppose plans for 40,000-bird poultry facility on edge of Oxfordshire's "Downton Abbey village"
Around 70 residents of Bampton, a historic Oxfordshire market town that served as the filming location for Downton Abbey, have gathered to oppose a planning application by industrial poultry breeders PD Hook, to build four broiler “breeder” sheds at Deanery Farm. [1]
Communities Against Factory Farming (CAFF), is supporting local residents with concerns over the development [2]
CAFF states the facility will yield millions broiler chicks annually at standard hatch rates
Manure would accumulate throughout each flock cycle and be cleared just once a year
The application offers four jobs: three full-time, one part-time
Residents raised concerns about heavy goods vehicle traffic, manure management, surface runoff and large industrial buildings in open countryside alongside concerns for animal welfare. The meeting on 5 May drew around 70 people to Bampton Village Hall, reflecting the depth of local feeling about the proposal.
CAFF has submitted a formal objection and believes a full Environmental Impact Assessment is warranted. The organisation previously overturned planning permission for two intensive poultry units on the Staffordshire-Shropshire border after the council's environmental assessment was found to be deficient. [3]
Richard McBrien, Chair of The Society for the Protection of Bampton, said:
“The Society for the Protection of Bampton (SPB) has over 300 members in the village and is very strongly opposed to the proposed poultry units at Deanery Farm. We are worried about public health, air quality and the rural character of Bampton. The proposal would introduce large industrial buildings into open countryside, increase HGV traffic on unsuitable rural roads, and create risks from manure, waste, runoff and inadequate drainage. All of which could have long-term negative consequences for Bampton.”
PD Hook is one of the UK's largest poultry breeding companies and until August 2025 was a 50/50 partner in Hook2Sisters (H2S), identified in regulatory data as the UK's worst-offending mega farm company for environmental breaches. Among recorded incidents, H2S polluted the environment with chicken litter and dirty water at its Berwickshire site in 2022 and was found not to be treating surface water to remove pollutants. [4] PD Hook now operates independently, retaining its Cote hatchery, where eggs from Deanery Farm would be sent for hatching.
Although PD Hook does not state a projected annual egg output in its application, CAFF states the 36,000 breeder hens could produce around millions of broiler chicks per flock cycle, supplied to intensive poultry units across the UK. P D Hook states the new capacity is needed to replace 32,000 breeders it will lose when a nearby contract farm is redeveloped for housing.
Jo Lazarus, Campaign Coordinator at CAFF, said:
“No community should be forced to accept industrial factory farming on its doorstep. Residents in Bampton are right to raise concerns about pollution, traffic, animal welfare and environmental damage. Intensive poultry farming has already devastated wildlife and ecosystems across the UK, and local people must have a meaningful voice in decisions that will affect their community for decades to come.”
ENDS
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Notes to Editors:
[1] Planning application: https://publicaccess.westoxon.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=TCIKOMRKLNW00
[2] caff.org.uk
[3] Shropshire Live, November 2025: https://www.shropshirelive.com/news/2025/11/26/shropshire-border-intensive-chicken-shed-plans-overturned-after-legal-challenge/
[4] https://www.theferret.scot/mega-farms-polluting-the-environment-excrement/?id=01wvHd33Ft