Local chicken plans face objections from US and Japan

A family farm's plan to build chicken sheds to produce 1.36 million birds a year is being opposed by people living as far away as San Francisco in the US and Japan.

E.F. Harrold Ltd has applied to create the facilities at Docking Farm near Cawston in north Norfolk, and said it wanted to diversify into poultry after falling income from crops.

The scheme is causing concern locally, with residents raising fears about increased HGV traffic on surrounding country roads, as well as noise and air pollution, and there have been about 1,000 letters of objection.

However, a planning agent believed the level of opposition had been magnified by activists encouraging protests from people living hundreds of miles away.

E.F. Harrold Ltd wants to build four new chicken sheds at the site, housing 180,000 chickens at any one time.

The firm has long specialised in crops such as potatoes, peas and beans, but in recent years has found profits under increasing pressure. Its agent said returns are now below the cost of production.

The new chicken sheds offered the farm a chance to diversify, and it said the sheds would meet improved welfare standards for lower-density production of birds and use air-cleaning technology to limit odours.

However, a number of bodies, including parish councils and the National Trust, are objecting, as well as district councillors.

Key concerns included worries about increased traffic, the potential odour from the farm, air pollution and noise.

On Broadland District Council's website, there are also hundreds of people across the UK and even from Finland, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Germany and Japan objecting.

Opponents have also written to the council from the US, including El Paso in Texas, San Francisco in California and Arizona.

It came after the application was picked up upon by Communities Against Factory Farming (CAFF), which said it is "on a mission to end factory farming in Britain".

It lists about 28 applications from across the UK on its website and urges people to object to them, including Docking Farm and six other sites in East Anglia.

Jo Lazarus of CAFF said: "We have serious concerns that this intensive farm could pollute local water and air quality, and harm residents' quality of life."

Ian Pick, a planning consultant for Harrison Pick, representing the farm, was critical of CAFF's tactics.

He warned that its actions risk overwhelming councils, causing applications to stall.

"This issue is not unique and is bigger than this application in Norfolk," he said.

"It is a problem of national importance and is stalling the planning system."

He said changes to welfare standards meant farms had to build new sheds to provide more space for birds to meet lower density requirements.

Pick said the group were "shooting themselves in the foot" by blocking the application and claimed the slow pace of getting new farm buildings built meant there would be more imports from countries with lower welfare standards than the UK to meet demand.

"This does not stop intensive farming; it is just offshoring it," he said.

However, CAFF dismissed the criticism and said the planning system exists so the public can scrutinise proposals and ensure that "communities have a voice".

A spokesperson said: "Residents, parish councils and elected representatives have raised legitimate concerns about the impact of this development on their local area.

"People are objecting because factory farming affects everyone, not just those living next door.

"Communities across the country are increasingly concerned about becoming a sacrificial zone for large-scale agribusiness, as the cumulative impact of intensive poultry production on local environments, public health, animal welfare and climate change continues unabated."

Broadland District Council said every comment it receives will be considered as part of the planning process and that it is committed to "considering all representations, regardless of where they originate".

A spokesman added: "While a high volume of objections can present additional work, our processes are designed to ensure that each submission is fairly considered as part of the decision-making process."

The council will decide on the application at a later date.

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