Residents raise serious concerns over proposed new £10m chicken farm close to Peterborough

Acorus Rural Property Services has submitted a planning application for 12 new poultry houses and associated infrastructure- including new field access, vehicle parking, gas tanks and a dead bird building, on land at Pear Tree Hill Road, Whaplode Drove, Spalding.

Each building would measure 80ft x 360ft (28,800sqft or 2,675sqm), with the total footprint of the buildings extending to 345,600sqft (32,100sqm).

Acorus states in the application that the structures would be fir for purpose and provide over 50 years of production space.

The application further states that: “This proposal is considered to result in limited social impact.

"The proposed new poultry unit will seek to minimise any impact through modern design principles.

“It is the overall conclusion of this landscape and visual impact assessment that the proposed development is anticipated to result in no significant adverse impacts to the landscape baseline at a residual stage.”

In order to meet welfare requirements, the business has states that it will be moving to a higher welfare regime of 30kg per square metre instead of 38. This will mean a total of 552,000 bird places with an annual output of 3,865,000 chickens.

The application states that the potential impact of vermin, dust and odour would be low but residents have raised serious concerns and have pointed to a new report written by Dr Michael Bull and Associates Ltd (MBAL), an air quality specialist firm. The report was commissioned by the Coalition Against Factory Farming (CAFF), a non-profit organisation supporting grassroots resident campaigns against factory farming.

Air pollution expert Dr Bull warns that predicted increases in dangerous particulate matter (PM10) at Peartree Road are among the highest he has ever seen - up to 15 times greater than levels forecast for major airport projects.

CAFF Campaign Coordinator, Bini Pitwell, commented: “This report highlights in detail the high risk to local residents’ health as well as that of workers. The Particulate Matter and odour assessments are particularly concerning and the impacts on residents would be dire.

“Lincolnshire already has more factory farms than anywhere else in the UK, and intensive poultry units such as this are dreadful for animal welfare, harm our long-term food security and have damaging knock-on effects to our waterways, environment, and ultimately our health.”

Darrel Mountcastle, local resident, added: “If planning permission is granted for this ridiculous plan, it will decimate the area.”

Graham McFadyen, another resident, further added: “My first and foremost concern is for the welfare of the chickens and the cruel reality of intense factory farming.

"These poor souls never get to see the light of day, the sunshine, the rain, scratching about in the earth as nature intended. It just breaks my heart that they have voices that no one listens to... It's an unnatural and inhumane way of so-called 'farming' that needs to be abolished and consigned to the annals of history.”

To view the application, visit the South Holland District Council website.