Shropshire chicken sheds 'will damage landscape'

A controversial plan to build three giant poultry sheds in the Shropshire countryside would cause 'substantial damage' to the landscape and should be thrown out, an expert has claimed.

Mary King, senior design and conservation officer at Shropshire Council, said plans to house almost 150,000 chickens at the site in Little Ness, between Oswestry and Shrewsbury, would also cause 'extensive traffic problems'.

In a consultation response on the council's planning website, she said all residents who live in the area and beyond the development site would be affected, and argued there was no justification for the revived scheme which has attracted dozens of objections.

The fresh proposal for Foxholes Farm Buildings was lodged in April by farmer Guy Davies less than 12 months after a Government inspector threw out plans for five massive poultry units on the same site following a huge public campaign.

If approved, the buildings, each measuring 374ft by 80ft, could rear up to 148,296 broiler chickens. The plans include provision for three rearing sheds, two control rooms, seven feed bins, a water tower, office and store buildings and road improvement and access works. Agents

Roger Parry & Partners maintain the development would cause 'no social impact' .

But Mrs King said the plans went against local and national planning policies. Her report said: "The impact of the proposed development will be felt beyond the immediate development site and is greater than the physical impact of the proposed buildings themselves on the landscape.

"The physical impact and the activities in and around them will cause substantial harm to the setting of the Grade II listed church at Little Ness, its churchyard and surrounding landscape."