Controversial chicken farm plans for Rushden back for third time as residents say 'cluck off' once more
Controversial plans for an intensive chicken farm in fields on the edge of Rushden have been submitted for the third time – and residents have already responded with signs saying ‘cluck off’.
Bedfordia Farms Ltd has once again resubmitted plans to build a broiler rearing unit with six linked poultry buildings each 101.7m x 26.2m and ancillary structures including 18 silos, water tanks, storage tanks, a cold store, an incinerator and electrical infrastructure on land north-east of Westwood Anaerobic Digestion Plant in Bedford Road, Rushden.
If successful, the application would see a factory farm which could raise more than two million birds a year on the 55-acre site – the equivalent of more than 27 football pitches.
The broiler would be on arable land approximately 1.2km south-east of Avenue Road, Rushden; 1.1km north-east of Bedford Road, Rushden, 1.5km south of Newton Bromswold and 800m north-west of Knotting, across the county boundary in Bedfordshire.
Original plans in 2017 attracted huge levels of opposition, including from the Cluck Off campaign group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).
The application was withdrawn in February 2018 but in August 2021, Bedfordia Farms submitted newly revised air and manure plans to address environmental concerns.
A total of 2,465 objections to the scheme have been lodged since it was first proposed in 2018.
Objections include the impact on traffic, access and highway safety, severe risks regarding ‘noise pollution and pervasive odours’ and the degradation of landscape and its character and harm to protected wildlife.
One objector said: “I am outraged that this is still ongoing. Why has this not been knocked on the head once and for all? With all the opposition you have received over the years it is overdue to finally call time on this and tell them to go elsewhere with no further amendments being considered.”
Figures for the number of chickens which would pass through the broiler unit each year propose the unit operating on a 49 day cycle so that, over the course of a calendar year, an average 7.45 flocks would pass through the broiler unit.
The broiler unit is designed to raise 2,339,000 birds per year with the birds' current animal welfare legislation being allowed to be kept at 22 birds per square metre.
Chicks would be introduced to the poultry houses when a day old and would be reared for approximately 38 days under ‘controlled and monitored conditions’. After 38 days the chickens would be manually caught and transported away from the site for ‘processing’.
Operating on an ‘all-in, all-out’ basis, the broiler unit would see all six poultry houses stocked and emptied at the same time.
Bedfordia Farms Ltd estimates the broiler unit would cost £6.23m to build, with construction extending over five to six months.
Of this total estimated cost, more than £4.8m is accounted for by the poultry houses and ancillary structures and overall site works and £1.411m by the biomass boiler and associated buildings.
The documents state: “There are few development projects in the agricultural sector of such high value and, in these terms, construction of the broiler unit would represent a significant investment into the rural economy.
“The operation of the proposed development would offer direct employment, creating five permanent full-time equivalent jobs.”
In their submission, Bedfordia states that ‘animal welfare is not an EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) or planning matter but is ‘quite properly a matter of public interest just as it is for the applicant’ (Bedfordia).
It continues: “Animal welfare is closely regulated in law, and Bedfordia is committed to following Defra’s Code of practice for the welfare of meat chickens and meat breeding chickens (2018).”
On its website, Bedfordia describes itself as ‘long-term stewards of the landscape’, ‘committed to enhancing the natural ecology’ of the area.
In the application, the company says the ‘litter’ (chicken poo and organic detritus) would be removed using loaders and taken off site to be used as an agricultural fertiliser and soil conditioner.
The buildings would then be washed down with high-pressure hoses, with the water ‘draining to a sealed concrete tank for removal by tanker’.
Admitting there could be potential ‘unpleasant odours’, ‘dust and ammonia’ the company says there would be ‘insignificant impact on air quality at existing nearby properties’, with no ‘requirement for mitigation beyond the best practice design measures embodied in the broiler unit design’.
The proposed development will also include a ‘small’ incinerator for burning bird carcasses and a straw-fired biomass boiler for heating.
In view of the length of time that has passed since the original planning application was submitted, and the various changes to environmental and planning legislation and standards, it was agreed between Bedfordia and North Northants Council (the Local Planning Authority) that further updated information and amendments were made to the planning application.
These include updates to the landscape and visual assessment, an updated and amended ecology assessment, and updated noise, transport and access and hydrology assessments.
To find out more about the application, which will be considered by North Northants Council, search for 18/01284/FUL via the planning portal on the council website.