Redevelopment of a large poultry farm in Wiltshire has been granted planning permission by the council despite a huge campaign by local people objecting to the plans.
Amber Real Estates Investment, which counts 2 Sisters Food Group’s owner Ranjit Boparan as one of its directors, won approval after a six year battle with authorities and local residents. It wants to demolish four existing poultry and replace them with four new poultry buildings along with the provision of associated infrastructure including feed bins and hardstanding.
Wiltshire Council officers recommended it for approval, saying it “would not have an adverse impact on the character or appearance of the locality and in particular the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty”.
Plans submitted to the council in 2011 have taken six years to gain approval after locals formed an action group called Spitting Feathers, citing concerns about noise, smell and increased traffic in the villages of Sutton Veny and Longbridge Deverill. Over 400 objections were filed with the council.
“The factory [sic] will have high velocity fans running throughout the night, causing unbearable disturbance to nearby residents. Our consultants have calculated that these fans will generate over 56 Decibels of noise simply from the air passing through the ducts,” said Spitting Feathers.
“The proposal will put more than 5,700 heavy goods vehicle movements on a fragile rural road. The access route to and from the site passes down a narrow country road with poor site-lines, through the vary restricted width of Sand Street in Longbridge Deverill,” it added.
The Environment Agency was brought in to consider the complaints but said all the concerns had been adequately addressed: “The concerns raised by local people have mainly been about odour, noise, bio-aerosol and dust arising from the site and how these affect humans and horses. Concerns have also been raised about disease control and noise from vehicle movements should the proposed poultry unit go ahead. During this final phase of the consultation, the Environment Agency did not receive any new information that had not already been considered and addressed in the decision document.”
Go-ahead for the redevelopment was granted on 24 August. Amber Real Estates said the redevelopment would “provide significant improvements both environmentally and aesthetically”.