News

Nearly 15,000 people object to ‘outrageous’ plans for Norfolk ‘mega-farm’ housing 870,000 chickens and 14,000 pigs

Controversial plans to build a megafarm with up to 870,000 chickens and 14,000 pigs between two villages have attracted nearly 15,000 complaints.

Cranswick, the food giant behind the plans, says the two sites will be set 400 yards apart and operate separately to act as a ‘bio-precaution’.

But locals fear the giant facility will belch out foul odours including ammonia fumes, attract swarms of flies and result in thousands of lorries driving past homes.

The strength of public opinion emerged as the local planning authority revealed it had received the ‘highly unusual’ amount of objections.

So far, the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk has received 13,362 letters from residents in an around Methwold and Feltwell and campaigners opposed to the scheme, plus 1,445 comments through its planning portal.

Just eight people have written in support of the plans.

By comparison, an application by a developer to build up to 4,000 homes in West Winch – dwarfing the existing population of fewer than 3,000 people – has generated just 144 objections and a petition signed by 32 people.

Objections to the megafarm include one that says: ‘This cannot be allowed. It will destroy our countryside with pollution in the rivers, earth and air.

‘Stench will be appalling. Disease will be rife… Welfare of animals is not good either.

‘Tourists will stop coming to the area due to smell and pollution. House prices in outlying villages and towns will plummet…

‘We will no longer be able to enjoy our gardens or countryside, won’t be able to hang out washing or have barbecues.

‘There is also the added chaos the lorries will cause on our already congested roads and small, narrow lanes.’

Another wrote: ‘This type of factory farm is completely unnecessary, with very low standards of animal welfare, and will impact enormously on the local roads.’

Another complained: ‘This is an area of outstanding natural beauty with SSSIs (Sites of Special Scientific Interest), SPAs (Special Protection Areas) and SACs (Special Areas of Conservation) and attracts holidaymakers bringing investment to the region.

‘This would be damaged if tourists could not bear the smell and ammonia-related reactions that come with these factories.

‘The ability to wild swim in the rivers [would be affected] due to the pollution from both the factory and from the runoff from spreading on local farms.’

In a further blow to Cranswick, campaigning groups Feedback and Sustain claim the two applications for the separate megafarm sites are ‘unlawful’ because they fail to provide details of expected greenhouse gas emissions, preventing a proper assessment on ‘climate change grounds’.

The organisations – which have threatened legal action if the applications are approved despite their ‘significant deficiencies’ – claim the megafarm and associated suppliers would generate the equivalent of 120,000 tonnes of CO2 every year, or nearly a third of the amount already produced by all road traffic in the borough annually.

Phil Holtam, programmes manager at Feedback, said: ‘It’s absolutely right that so many are concerned and raising their concerns directly with the council.

‘Not only will the megafarm lead to local impact in terms of air and water quality, waste, odour and traffic, but there will be inevitable and significant climate harm from the massive volumes of feed required to rear many thousands of animals.’

Ruth Westcott of Sustain, which campaigns for better food and farming, said: ‘The scale of objection to this megafarm has been overwhelming.

‘One reason for concern is that key information is missing from the planning documents, meaning we don’t know fully what the environmental impact could be.

‘This megafarm simply shouldn’t go ahead. Sustainable farming is the real path to good local jobs and decent returns for farmers.’

Cranswick, a pork and chicken producer which supplies meat to major supermarkets, submitted its plans for the former World War II airfield in April.

Under the proposals, a broiler unit for chickens will have 20 sheds, each measuring 320ft by 79ft, with enough floor space to hold 43,500 birds at a time and produce six million per year.

The birds will be hatched in the sheds from eggs which have been laid at nearby farms. They will be transported to Cranswick’s plant in Eye, Suffolk, for processing when they are seven weeks old.

The pigs would be housed in 14 sheds measuring 230ft by 49ft, each one holding 1,000 animals and capable of producing 56,000 annually.

The ‘finishing unit’ where pigs that have been reared outdoors will be brought when they are 12 weeks old and weigh around 77lbs.

They will stay indoors for another 12 weeks until they reach their target weight of around 240lbs and are ready to be slaughtered.

Cranswick states in its planning application that the sites would cause ‘negligible disturbance’ to nearby wildlife havens.

But local campaigners Cranswick Objection Group have described it as a ‘monstrosity right on our doorstep’ and an ‘overwhelming catastrophe that could destroy our homes, our health and our landscape’.

The group stated: ‘Not only will the stench, the noise and the swarms of flies be sickening but the additional HGV traffic on country roads will turn a simple journey for us into an absolute nightmare.’

Other objectors include the World Wide Fund for Nature, which warns the environmental impact of the farming complex has not been properly assessed.

Villagers living near a much smaller Cranswick chicken plant in Westhall, near Halesworth in Suffolk, have complained of being plagued by flies for the last two summers.

And locals in Stow Bedon, Norfolk, have claimed they have suffered nose bleeds, headaches, breathing problems and spoiled food due to the stench of ammonia from a Cranswick pig farm.

Cranswick has said previously it was aware of complaints and was ‘working closely with the EA on this matter’, and that the EA has confirmed it operated within the parameters of the relevant permit relating to the local environment.

Their previous statement read: ‘After construction, the requirements for the operating permit changed and, in dialogue with the EA and local authority, the changes were implemented.

‘We continue to work closely with the EA who confirm we operate within the agreed parameters of the permit relating to the local environment.’

The poultry farm at the Methwold site would be built by Cranswick subsidiary Crown Chicken on an area of farmland containing a series of run-down poultry huts which have not been used for many years and will be demolished.

The pigs will be housed by another Cranswick subsidiary, Wayland Farms, in ‘high-quality, purpose-built’ units, replacing a range of existing run-down buildings.

The current site has a capacity for 37,500 pigs, although it has been operating at 20 per cent capacity with only 7,500 piglets due to the poor condition of the existing buildings.

A Cranswick spokesman said: ‘We have considered the extent to which the full analysis of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions were required for this planning application and are satisfied that all of the necessary information has been included.’

King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, which campaigners say failed to request the climate change impact for the planning applications, said a 30-day consultation would take place this year, with the planning committee making a decision ‘early next year’.

A spokeswoman said of the number of objections: ‘It’s highly unusual [but] this is really difficult to compare [to other schemes] because it’s a different type of planning application.’

Related Posts

Fox News pundit makes shock personal revelation while arguing against Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense

A Fox News contributor making a personal admission that swayed her opinion about Pete Hegseth’s nomination for Secretary of Defense by Donald Trump, . Leslie Marshall, a Democrat strategist and radio talk host, opened up about her experience as a rape victim while coming out in opposition to Hegseth’s nomination. Hegseth, an ex-Fox News anchor, was accused of 𝑠e𝑥ual assault in 2017. He has denied the accusation, though his attorney has admitted to paying off the accuser to keep her from going public.

The reason behind Brad Pitt’s shock ‘collapse’ and ‘immediate medical evaluation’ at Vegas Grand Prix is revealed

Onlookers were shocked and concerned after A-List actor Brad Pitt ‘fainted’ at the Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend – but all was not as it seemed. On Saturday, ahead of the highly-anticipated on-track showdown in Sin City, the star, 60, was seen collapsing to the ground as he ‘fainted’ on the grid. He wobbled on his feet several times before crashing down on to a padded mat held by a crew member.

NHS alert after a surge in hospital admissions linked to bad reactions to weight-loss jabs amid concerns over sale of ‘miracle’ treatment online

The number of hospital admissions for bad reactions to weight-loss drugs is more than four times higher than previously thought – with a staggering 274 cases reported on top of nearly 15,000 said to have suffered ill effects. Last month, the medicines regulator said there had been 68 UK hospitalisations associated with ‘miracle’ weight-loss jabs such as Ozempic, used to treat obesity and diabetes. But now it has emerged that the figure is far higher at 274, while the number of adverse reactions linked to the drugs has reached an astonishing 14,996, according to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) – more than double the 7,228 reactions reported last month.

Conor McGregor vows ‘big actions are coming’ and says he is ‘soon to be vindicated’ as he launches furious tirade against his rape accuser Nikita Hand after she won €250,000 from him in court

Conor McGregor has warned ‘big actions are coming’ and he is ‘soon to be vindicated’ during a series of social media tirades against a decision to award his rape accuser nearly €250,000. McGregor, 36, was found by a jury in a civil court to have 𝑠e𝑥ually assaulted Nikita Hand, 35, at a hotel in south Dublin in December 2018. After deliberating for six hours and 10 minutes, a jury of eight women and four men returned their verdict on Friday afternoon, awarding Ms Hand the substantial damages for her claim.

Bombshell new clue may finally crack DB Cooper case 53 years after hijacker escaped out of plane with $200k

The parachute that the infamous hijacker DB Cooper used to make his getaway out of a plane with $200,000 may have finally been found. The enigma behind DB Cooper, the man who jumped out of Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 with thousands in cash after handing a stewardess a note demanding the ransom, has long stumped the FBI. Nearly a decade later, the FBI has begun unofficially looking back into the case after the children of Richard Floyd McCoy II contacted YouTuber Dan Gryder in 2020 with possible evidence.

‘Never-Trump’ columnist ridiculed for calling Trump’s Cabinet ‘1,000 shades of white’

Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin is being ridiculed for calling Donald Trump’s cabinet nominations ‘1,000 shades of white’. Rubin, 62, a former conservative commentator at the Jeff Bezos-owned paper, now largely advocates for Democrats and on her podcast, ‘Jen Rubin’s Green Room.’ Speaking on MSNBC Rubin did not hold back as she ripped Trump’s nominations over the color of their skin.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *