Campaigners await High Court judgement over chicken megafarm in Shropshire
Campaigners who took a council to the High Court in a row over a chicken megafarm will have to wait to see if they have stopped its expansion.
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The River Action group took legal action against Shropshire Council over granting of planning permission of the 200,000-bird poultry unit - 400 yards away from an existing site which is thought to hold 500,000 chickens.
The proposal, which is for land at Felton Butler, halfway between Shrewsbury and Oswestry, sparked fury among some residents over fears about manure run-off polluting the River Severn.
Before the judicial review at the High Court in Cardiff kicked off on Wednesday this week (April 30), activists in chicken suits and masks held up placards saying: “Kindly cluck off! Save Our Severn,” among other slogans.
The hearing has now come to an end, with Mr Justice Fordham not indicating a timeframe for when his judgement will be revealed.
“I’m not going to give my judgement today,” he said. “I’m not going to predict a timeframe. I would like to thank all of the lawyers and non-lawyers. I can see what’s gone into the preparation on all sides.”
The two-day case involved analysis and arguments of complex detail about the legalities and environmental impacts the new chicken farm would have.
Having heard all the details, the judge must assess the case on four grounds.
He must consider whether or not Shropshire Council failed to fully and lawfully assess the environmental impacts of the development and, in particular, the effects of spreading manure on land.
He will also look at whether or not the authority failed to carry out a lawful assessment before granting the permission by determining the significance of some of the development's impacts.
Planning permission for the unit was initially refused after Natural England advised that three nearby protected sites, Shrawardine Pool, Lin Can Moss and Fenmere, could be impacted by aerial pollutants.
Council officers also raised concerns over the lack of detail on how the development would handle chicken manure without an anaerobic digester to break down organic materials.
However, the plans were approved after LJ Cooke & Son proposed exporting manure to a third party anaerobic digestion unit.
Ricardo Gama, solicitor at Leigh Day, the firm representing River Action, said: “This is an important case in establishing the approach which planning authorities need to take when determining planning applications for intensive agricultural units.
“Our client believes that the failure by authorities to properly look at the cumulative impacts of the industrial levels of manure and other waste which these developments produce has led to the Wye and Severn river catchments being inundated with waste.”
