Shropshire Star

100,000 bird chicken sheds in Oswestry move a step closer

Huge chicken sheds housing almost 100,000 birds have moved a step closer to being built in the Shropshire countryside.

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Shropshire councillors approved plans in principle for the two rearing sheds for poultry at Morton Ley Farm in Morton, near Oswestry.

It is the latest intensive rearing chicken farm application in recent years to be allowed across the county. But the approval is subject to minor modifications, and powers to grant final planning permission have been delegated to Shropshire Council's chief planning officer.

An archaeological survey will now be undertaken to see if there are any remnants of a former Roman road that once ran along the site.

A report to yesterday's meeting of the authority's north planning committee was told that Morton Ley Farm already runs two intensive broiler units, and is looking to increase production from 90,000 to 180,000 birds in four separate bird-rearing units as part of the family farming business.

Each of the new sheds will house up to 45,000 birds.

The plans also include three feed silos and access improvements.

Birds will be brought on to the site as day-old chicks and will then stay for 42 days before being taken for processing.

There will be a six-day turnaround between each batch of birds to allow the facilities to be cleaned out.

Planning officer Tim Rogers said there had been no objections to the plans, and Oswestry Rural Parish Council had written in support of the application.

But he recommended that before any work on site begins there should be an archaeological survey carried out, as the farm lies in the site of a former Roman road.

The chicken sheds site will also have to include screening to ensure it fits into the surrounding landscape in an acceptable manner.

An environmental report prepared for the planning application concluded that "overall, the landscape and visual assessment has established that the proposed poultry extension will have a limited effect on the baseline conditions in terms of both landscape character and visual amenity".

But Mr Rogers said that the site was relatively open, with significant views into the site from the adjacent public highway.

He said with consideration to the scale and nature of intensive poultry development, it would have a significant impact on the surrounding landscape.

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