Poultry unit in North Yorkshire rejected by local planners

Planning permission for a proposed poultry unit for egg production covering 60 hectares in Hambleton, North Yorkshire has been refused. Hambleton District Council planning committee decided that the application should be in a decision notice published on 31 October.   

Fish Legal objected on behalf of the Knayton Angling Club to the application which failed to properly consider the pollution threat to nearby Cod Beck and the River Swale. The Cod Beck is a tributary of the Swale and is home to brown trout, grayling and river lamprey. As the proposed units were free range, anglers argued that there was a risk of groundwater contamination and run-off of nutrients from the site into nearby watercourses that are already showing increased levels of phosphate and deterioration in fish.

John Rodmell from the Knayton Angling Club said: “Our club members are very relieved by Hambleton District Council’s decision to reject this application. We saw it as being a very real threat to the wellbeing of the local environment including our becks and rivers “

Geoff Hardy, Fish Legal Solicitor, said:

“Hambleton District Council confirmed to us that our representations were taken into account in arriving at this decision.  Regulators are clearly struggling in other parts of the UK to deal with diffuse agricultural pollution in areas where poultry production is particularly concentrated.  That is why it is so important for planners to properly consider the potential pollution threat from increased manure production associated with these units before they proceed.  It appears that in this case the planners agreed with us that this was the wrong development in the wrong place.”