A Donington farmer has been granted permission to build a huge chicken farm to house hundreds of thousands of birds.
Northorpe Farm, off Gibbet Fen Road, is to build six poultry buildings housing a total of up to 330,000 birds at any one time.
While previously the farm had specialised in crop farming, documents submitted with the planning application states owner Ian Pick was looking to diversify its output, though the chicken farm would be run by another company.
There were 11 public objections with Donington Parish Council also opposing the development highlighting concerns over the smell and the welfare of the animals.
Local resident Kev Bun spoke to the deciding Planning Committee saying: “The reason these types of businesses are in rural areas is largely due to the fact these facilities are basically hell holes.
“Each building will contain 55,000 birds, meaning each bird will have approximately 22cm squared to spend its tumultuous and miserably short life.
“No-one wants to see or smell the conditions in which these birds will be kept and morally, if you don’t want to work in these conditions, they should not exist.”
Coun Simon Walsh said there was ‘a constant battle’ with similar local businesses: “It’s the third recycled livestock facility in the area and each seems to be getting bigger and bigger leading to a precedent for this type of the building being the norm for the Donington area.
“With this site it’s close to Donington and if the wind is in the wrong direction, if the management isn’t correct that could cause issues.”
Other councillors pointed out that the Environment Agency had no objections and some said they’d been in similar buildings.
Planning chairman Coun James Avery said: “I’ve been involved and visited sites and similar establishments and the attention to detail and welfare and hygiene is quite significant.
“I can understand not everyone is a meat eater and won’t like this, I respect this. But we as a nation have to protect food security. We shouldn’t be importing from the other side of the world where there are limited, if any, standards of food production.”
Mr Pick, on behalf of the applicant, said the Envorinmental Agency had granted a permit for a larger scheme than the one in the plans.
“We chose this site as it was very remote from neighbours,” he said. “There’s been a lot of talk about animal welfare. It’s not a planning issue but it’s important.
“Our standards in this country are far better than the rest of the world. It provides an enriched environment for the birds.”
