Council agrees to quashing of planning permission for 110,000-bird poultry farm: report

A local campaign group claims to have forced Powys County Council to reverse planning permission for a huge poultry farm after winning permission for a judicial review.

Sustainable Food Knighton (SFK) had opposed the application at Llanshay Farm for or two broiler rearing units accommodating 110,000 birds in total, which Welsh Ministers refused last autumn to call in.

It said that after a judge granted remission for judicial review of the planning approval, “Powys County Council…admitted that the application should not have been approved, because there was no evidence before the planning officer to support the conclusion that the impacts on amenity would be acceptable because the fields would be unlikely to be spread more than twice per annum”.

SFK said it was agreeing a final draft order with the council for the court “but essentially this means that the permission for the intensive poultry unit development will be quashed”.

Although the application could be re-opened, the point conceded over manure on fields and other objections highlighted by the group would have to be addressed.

SFK said these issues included impact on landscape, water and soil health, biodiversity and human health and the cumulative impact of the hundreds of large poultry units present in Powys.

A Powys statement said: “The court process has not been completed. Until all proceedings are completed, it would be inappropriate to comment.”