People who live near farms in north Shropshire could be relieved of years of suffering swarms of flies after cabinet councillors approved a new code of practice for farming.

Members decided to approve guidelines for the agricultural use of poultry manure in the district at a meeting of North Shropshire District Council’s cabinet yesterday.

The code was drawn up following repeated complaints from residents over the years, who say their summers are ruined by flies, bad odours and dust coming from nearby farms.

It offers guidelines for producers and transporters, as well as advice on how to store and spread chicken manure.

Tim Sneddon, the council’s street scene manager, presented the report to councillors at the meeting.

He said the guidelines would be enforced across the district, and that two authorities in north Devon and Dorset had already adopted similar plans.”We do get quite a lot of complaints every year about flies, and we are blessed in the district with having the largest poultry unit in Europe.

“It’s a good way of making people understand what their responsibilities are and it should help relieve the suffering of some of the people in north Shropshire who have had to endure flies every summer for a number of years.

“I do think it’s something that one or two of the other Shropshire authorities may want to introduce,” he said.

Councillors voted unanimously to accept the code.