Shropshire chicken farm campaign warning
The leading light in a campaign group that successfully stopped controversial plans for a chicken farm going ahead near Bridgnorth has urged Shropshire Council to “consider its obligations”.
This comes after three of the country’s senior judges quashed the proposals, which were for the creation of four poultry buildings and associated development at Matthew Bower’s Footbridge Farm in Tasley, at the Court of Appeal.
The court ruled that the pre-planning consent assessment of the smell and dust impact on local residents caused by the disposal of chicken manure on nearby fields was not properly considered by Shropshire Council when it approved the plans.
The plans must now be considered again by the council.
George Edwards, spokesman for the Tasley Action Group opposing the chicken farm, said: “Shropshire Council needs to seriously consider its obligations to look after the best interests of the public they serve.
“They need to review their planning process and deliver sustainable stewardship of Shropshire. It is not too late to change direction.
“We are pleased and relieved that we won, but it’s been an exhausting, expensive and protracted experience we wouldn’t wish on anybody. We could not have done this without all the people who have supported us over the last two years, everybody made a difference and gave us the heart to go on.”
Under the plans, over the course of a year more than 1.5 million broiler chickens would be reared at the farm and more than 2,300 tonnes of manure would be spread on farmland close to residential areas on the west side of Bridgnorth.
Estelle Dehon, of Cornerstone Barristers, represented Nicola Squire in court, whose home is just 300 metres from one of the fields earmarked for manure spreading.
Ms Dehon said: “It is important that the odour and dust impacts of the storage and spreading of manure or slurry be subjected to proper assessment.”
