Willoughbridge Lodge Farm

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To: planningapplications@newcastle-staffs.gov.uk

Subject: Objection 25/00318/FUL

To the Newcastle under Lyme Planning Committee:

I object to application: 25/00318/FUL, Willoughbridge Lodge Farm Willoughbridge Lane Willoughbridge Market Drayton Shropshire TF9 4JL to house up to 70,000 broiler chickens per flock cycle. The application does not meet the environmental, social, and economic objectives of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). I urge the council to commission an independent review of the environmental statement and air quality and odour assessments. I object for the reasons below.

1. The odours, ammonia and dust pollution may lead to illness and discomfort for residents.

2. The IPU will negatively impact the nearby Dorothy Clive Garden, which is a crucial cultural and environmental asset to the community. 

3. The many nearby protected habitat sites (SSSIs / SACs) must be protected from over abstraction of water (Harris v EA), as well as air pollution, under the Habitats Regulations and the Bern Convention. 

4. No assessment of upstream and downstream greenhouse gases & contribution to climate change (required following the supreme court's ruling in Finch v Surrey County Council [2024] UKSC 20.) Greenhouse gases from the production of animal feed (upstream) must also be included in these calculations, as well as  meat processing plants, transport to grocery stores, and contribution to food waste (downstream). The UK has committed to Net Zero, so an unnecessary industrial animal farm that causes a lot of green house gases should not be approved.

5. No proper assessment of pollution from chicken waste (nitrates, ammonia, phosphorus) when spread on third party land, as required following R(Squire) v Shropshire Council [2019] EWCA Civ 888 and NFU v Herefordshire Council [2025] EWHC 536, which confirmed that chicken manure is waste. IPUs are one of the major causes of the death of the UK’s rivers because there is simply way too much manure being created. The manure from this farm when spread on 3rd party land, could also negatively impact protected habitats sites such as those SSSIs nearby, some of which are already declining. It could also cause a nuisance to residents living near fields where it is spread on land due to odours. 

6. The water pollution from excess fertiliser/manure from factory farms is holding up housebuilding just as much if not more than the sewage crisis: this is bad for the economy. 

7. No assessment of deforestation linked to chicken feed production. 

8. No assessment of how much water will be used. The country is already facing drought and water availability crisis, and factory farms use a lot much water, including from the crops grown to feed animals.

9. Increased HGV traffic is bad for roads and safety, and could lead to more costs on taxpayer to fix roads. It also worsens air quality which is a major public health risk. 

10. Bird flu risk is high. Millions of birds culled this year already due to bird flu. Scientists say the risk of the next pandemic from bird flu is rising.

11. Antibiotic overuse fuels antibiotic resistance, a growing public health crisis causing over 2000 deaths a year in the UK (UK Health Security Agency)

12. Chickens will suffer overcrowding, stress, and disease; factory farms cannot meet animal welfare needs, even on ‘higher welfare’ factory farms. Investigations show animal neglect and sickness is common in factory farms, even those that claim to be higher welfare and are RSPCA Assured or Red Tractor certified. The RSPCA Assured scheme has been widely discredited; high welfare certifications do not ensure high welfare.

13. Fast growing breeds of chickens such as those that will be bred here suffer from severe pain and health issues throughout their lives, such as chronic leg disorders and heart and circulatory problems. (RSPCA Eat. Suffer. Repeat.)

14. Consumption of chicken above 300g/week is also associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality from gastrointestinal cancers.

15. Farming jobs have been absolutely devastated by intensification. As intensification has increased, agricultural employment has gone down. We import a lot of fruit and veg in the UK; the horticultural sector has been severely underfunded. 

16. Shropshire already has 102 mega farms, and Staffordshire 11. There are over 1100 intensive farms in England, and the UK exports over £100m of poultry; this IPU is unnecessary for food security.

Kind regards,

Sources

1.        Antibiotic overuse: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/antibiotic-resistant-infections-and-associated-deaths-increase

2.        https://www.saveourantibiotics.org/the-issue/antibiotic-overuse-in-livestock-farming/; https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6017557/

3.        Bird flu: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1473309924002342; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(24)00438-9/abstract

4.        Nutrition / Health:  https://www.pcrm.org/good-nutrition/nutrition-information/chicken

5.        Cancer: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40284233/

6.        https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lack-of-water-presents-existential-threat-says-environment-agency-chief

7.        https://www.ciwf.org.uk/our-campaigns/factory-farming-map/

8.        https://www.statista.com/statistics/316321/poultry-meat-export-value-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/

9.        https://ahdb.org.uk/news/analyst-insight-in-a-flap-about-poultry-feed-demand

10.  Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30660336/

11.  RSPCA Assured: Covering up Cruelty on an Industrial Scale  https://www.animalrising.org/_files/ugd/ead451_3e9d75f915814cae8cf9ebb298ee9ba1.pdf

12.  https://viva.org.uk/red-tractor-overview/

13.  https://bryantresearch.co.uk/insight-items/big-ag-lie/