Planners give green light for new egg units housing over 100,000 chickens

Plans for the sheds at Walcot Farm, Lydbury North, near Bishop's Castle, and Woodhouse Fields, Bourton, near Much Wenlock, were given the green light after councillors said poultry farms are better than solar farms.

Both the 35,000-bird egg production barns at Lydbury North, and new chicken sheds at Bourton for about 80,000 extra birds, had objections from concerned neighbours, from possible river pollution to increased lorry traffic on the narrow country roads.

Both Lydbury North Parish Council and Clunbury Parish Council objected to the Walcot Farm plans, along with 15 nearby residents, Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Partnership and the National Trust, which looks after nearby Walcot Wood.

But at a Shirehall meeting of Shropshire Council's south planning committee yesterday, principal planning officer Grahame French said he believed measures were in place to address such concerns – to the extent Natural England had withdrawn its objection.

But Councillor Judith Bowen, chair of Lydbury North Parish Council, said: "Such a large development will contribute to the destruction of a fragile environment."

She said the site was on a flood plain and waste may get into the water in the River Clun catchment area, home to the rare Freshwater Pearl Mussel.

But Bishop's Castle councillor Charlotte Barnes said many of her concerns had been dealt with such as dirty water going into tanks to be processed and assessed by the Environment Agency before being allowed out.

Ian Pick, acting as agent for farm owners JW Evans & Son, said the site was not in a designated flood zone, but is just close to one.

He said there were no properties closer than 800 metres, so noise and smell would not cause any problems and modelling carried out with Natural England showed there would be no ammonia impact on local water courses.

Councillor Madge Shineton, representing Cleobury Mortimer, said: "Just because a piece of land has the label AONB on it does not mean it should be preserved in aspic – we have to remember it is an AONB because of the people who work there, like this."

The committee took a similar view with the Bourton plans, which will see two new sheds added to seven existing ones, bringing the number of birds there up to 330,000.