Plans for Lilleshall chicken buildings live to fight another day

Planning officers had recommended members of Telford & Wrekin Council's planning committee refuse an application for four poultry houses, a biomass fuel storage and heating building to be erected at Littlehales Manor Farm in Lilleshall, near Newport.

But as last night's committee meeting got under way, chairman John Minor announced the applicants had indicated they would make changes to the previously-criticised height of the proposed buildings and access to the site.

The size of the poultry building would have been 97m long by 24m wide and a height of 4.6m to the ridge and 2.4m to the eaves. The biomass boilers were planned to be 18m by 18 metres and four metres high.

But it is now believed applicants H Timmis Farms plan to change that and will come forward with alternative plans in the near future. No information has yet been submitted on what the new dimensions could be.

Regarding the deferred application, planning officer Emma Green had recommended refusal saying the "scale, mass and design" of the proposed building failed to "respect and respond positively to the visual amenities of the area and is not of a high quality or distinctive design".

The application had also 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 FarmersUnion, 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, said: "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 a new poultry building - however it ends up looking - will house about 45,000 birds, however it would have a maximum capacity of 180,000 on completion.