Beeby Chicken Farm

This was a successful challenge to Leicestershire County Council’s decision to grant planning permission for an intensive chicken farm and associated biomass boiler. The grounds of challenge were based on the applicant’s failure to assess the odour impacts of the spreading of chicken manure across its farm holding, contrary to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations.

An application was made for erection of intensive chicken sheds to contain 100,000 chickens, together with an anaerobic digestion facility (“ADF”) intended for the disposal of poultry waste. Any poultry waste not disposed of in the ADF was planned to be spread over the applicant’s farm-holding, which included areas away from the site. Our client shared concerns with the local Parish Council that the development included potentially significant impacts on local amenity due to odour arising from the poultry waste, which appeared not to have been properly assessed in the course of the application.

Following the grant of planning permission we wrote to the local planning authority challenging the decision on the basis that: (1) the environmental impact assessment was incomplete and unlawful because it failed to assess the potential for odour from spreading chicken waste across the applicant’s farm-holding; (2) the planning committee was misled by the planning officer’s advice that poultry waste would be disposed of in the ADF and would not leave the site; (3) the planning committee was misled by the planning officer’s advice that the proposed scheme was ‘almost identical’ to a previously approved (but not implemented) scheme on the same site, where in fact the previous scheme did not permit the spreading of chicken waste on surrounding fields; (4) the planning committee failed to address the fact that under the grant of planning permission the poultry units could have been operated before the ADF was built and operating and thus result in spreading of chicken waste on surrounding fields, the impact of which had not been assessed.

The Council, having considered our pre-action letter, agreed to consent to have the grant of planning permission quashed by the Court on all of the proposed grounds of challenge.

Horatio Waller of Francis Taylor Building was instructed.