Plan for poultry building could be rejected

Members of Telford & Wrekin Council's planning committee will discuss plans for four poultry houses, a biomass fuel storage and heating building to be erected at Littlehales Manor Farm in Lilleshall, near Newport.

The size of the poultry building will be 97 metres long by 24 metres wide and a height of 4.6 metres to the ridge and 2.4 metres to the eaves. The biomass boilers will be 18 metres by 18 metres and 4 metres high.

Planning officer Emma Green has recommended refusal saying the "scale, mass and design" of the proposed building "fails to respect and respond positively to the visual amenities of the area and is not of a high quality or distinctive design".

Despite the recommendation, the final decision does lie with councillors on the committee who could ultimately overturn it and approve the application.

The application has received 17 letters of objection, with neighbours raising concerns about smells from the chicken sheds, muck spreading on the fields, noise from fans 24 hours a day and additional traffic on Pitchcroft Lane.

A letter of support, however, from the National Farmer Union, said; "Food security for Shropshire is important and the challenge of the 21st century is to increase productivity, maximise outputs and minimise inputs to achieve sustainability.

"The proposed enterprise will ensure diversity and sustainability within the existing business and will provide new employment opportunities."

It added: "Historic concerns about odour have been addressed with modern ventilation and codes of conduct."

Commenting on the plans, Church Aston Parish Council stated: "We object on the grounds that traffic assessment appears to overstate existing usage of the road whilst understanding the proposed traffic movements for this development, so there are significant concerns about highway safety."

It is hoped the new poultry building will house about 45,000 birds, however it would have a maximum capacity of 180,000 on completion.

The committee meeting takes place next Wednesday (September 3), at 6pm at The Telford Whitehouse Hotel, Watling Street, Wellington and is open to the public.