Chicken farm must 'cease operation' for Tasley Garden Village to go ahead, Shropshire Council says
For a controversial garden village development to go ahead near Bridgnorth, a potential intensive chicken farm nearby must first "cease operation", Shropshire Council has said.
The state of a planning application for a poultry unit of more than one million chickens in Tasley was made clearer at Shropshire Council's latest cabinet meeting, where the authority's head of housing and strategic planning answered questions on the conflict between the two potential sites.
Under the authority's local plan, which sets out where housing and business land can be built until 2038, a garden village will be built in Tasley consisting of 1,050 homes and at least 16 hectares of employment land.
But a planning application is currently under review for 1.5 million broiler chickens to be reared nearby at Matthew Bower's Footbridge Farm.
Proposals for both developments have been met with fierce opposition, with members from Tasley Action Group (TAG) highlighting conflict in the planning policies between the two developments.
At Shropshire Council's cabinet meeting on Monday, Councillor Robert Macey heard concerns raised by resident Susan Howle and clerk to Tasley Parish Council, Bill Griffiths.
The pair said that both developments cannot go ahead, and questioned whether stipulations set out in the local plan would "guarantee" the chicken farm would not be built.
In response, Councillor Macey said the poultry farm would have to "cease operation" before the first resident of Tasley Garden Village moved in.
Councillor Macey said: "The current poultry farm planning application is being considered apart and against its compliance with the emerging local plan process.
"However it's appropriate to take it into account where there's a potential conflict.
"Before any occupation, any poultry unit operating within the site or wider site area will cease operation.
"It is not the role of the local plan to assess planning applications."
The plans for a chicken farm in Tasley were granted planning permission by Shropshire Council in September 2017, before being brought before London's High Court due to environmental concerns raised by TAG.
Judge Rhodri Price Lewis QC ruled there was nothing unlawful about the council's decision, but the plans were then brought before the court of appeal, where they were quashed by some of the country's most senior judges.
A revised application was submitted soon after the court of appeal decision, and TAG said residents have since been left in limbo over whether the poultry unit would still be allowed to proceed alongside emerging plans for Tasley Garden Village.
