A decision over a proposed “industrial-scale” chicken production facility on farmland has been postponed amid concerns residents of several villages could be overwhelmed by HGVs transporting live birds.
Hambleton District councillors have called for further information from highways bosses after hearing Dinsdale Farming’s plan to create six 126m-long buildings to house 300,000 chickens close to Raskelf, near Easingwold, would generate 1,500 more HGV journeys a year through several villages.
A meeting of the authority’s planning committee heard concerns the trucks would be directed along almost ten miles on Tholthorpe, Flawith and Tollerton, to the A19 at Shipton by Beningbrough.
A Tholthorpe Parish Meeting spokesman questioned whether the councillors would approve the proposal if their home was near the proposed HGV route.
Agents for the applicant have stated expanding its operations at its established farm beside the River Tees at Lower Dinsdale, south-east of Darlington, had been discounted, as it “would fail to meet the standards for protection of the amenity of neighbours”.
Councillors said enforcing the transport route would be “a nightmare” and that whichever way the HGVs were directed one village or another would suffer.
No mention was made that the route near the River Ouse has often been closed for extended periods due to flooding, which would leave the HGVs having to negotiate a junction on the A19 which has been branded an accident black spot by residents.
An agent for Dinsdale Farming told the meeting the £6m development would contribute towards UK food security, reducing reliance on imports, and bring significant economic benefits such as job creation.
Although the application papers submitted by the agent stated the development would lead to just two full-time jobs, the meeting heard a claim the facility would create three full-time jobs and “support” a further 15 jobs elsewhere.
He said the proposed route already carried dozens of HGVs a day and the extra traffic the development would produce would be “unnoticeble”.
However, Raskelf councillor Philippa James said the proposed route comprised small country roads with sharp bends and poor lighting, which were not designed to accommodate HGVs.
She also highlighted residents’ concerns over the possible transmission of avian flu.
Coun James said: “If you have got 50,000 birds crammed into each of these sheds liing under artificial conditions, unable to move, fed high-protein diets, antibiotics, designed to get them as fat as possible, never seeing the light of day until they go out to be slaughtered, is it any wonder that it’s a breeding ground for disease?”
Easingwold councillor Malcolm Taylor said the proposal was “a bridge too far”.
He said: “There’s been a proliferation of these factory units. They are farming on an industrial scale. The numbers we had in this area – I think we have now reached tipping point. The community cannot sustain this any further.”
However, several councillors from further afield called for the scheme to be approved due to its economic benefits and dismissed concerns the development would see farmland classed as best and most versatile being built upon.
Thirsk councillor Dave Elders said: “I have to actually wonder sometimes what people want from our fields. Do they just want plant-based production or do they want some sort of protein, be that cattle, chickens, pigs or whatever?”
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