Campaign groups call for chicken farms moratorium

An open letter asking for a pause to chicken farm planning applications has been sent to to Powys County Council’s leader and chief executive.

Ten protest groups from all across Powys have come together to put their concerns to Councillor Rosemarie Harris and Dr Caroline Turner.

Powys is seen as the “poultry capital” of Wales and the protesters believe that the balance to approve intensive poultry units (IPUs) has been skewed too far in favour of applicants.

The groups said: “We are increasingly concerned that PCC [Powys County Council] appears to be effectively rubber-stamping approval of a flood of these applications without apparent consideration of the overall impact on the county.

“There have been 130 completed applications for IPUs in Powys since June 2015 – and virtually all of them have been approved.

“There are 29 more in the pipeline.

“Our concern is that no-one is properly and thoroughly considering the wide cumulative impact on our environment and on the health of all those adults and children – our families and friends – who live in Powys.”

The groups are asking for:

• A moratorium on all current and future IPUs and other intensive factory farm applications until the council is able to accurately take stock of the current situation.
• A comprehensive environmental survey to find out if current air and water quality in parts of Powys with a concentration of IPUs are near, or already beyond, saturation point.
• A proper assessment of the human health considerations to residents posed by the already large number of factory farms present in Powys – based on actual studies rather than desk-based predictions.
• Details of how the council takes into account the provisions of the’ Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015′ when determining applications.
• A halt on deciding all IPU applications until the new intensive farming TAN (government Technical Advice Note) is in place to properly guide planning officers in their decision-making process.

A council spokesman confirmed they had received the letter and would be “responding in due course".

The groups involved are:

• The Residents of Berriew Group
• Llanerchydol Residents – Welshpool Frochas Group
• Upper Gwestydd Residents Group – Newtown
• Ardleen Residents Group
• Llangadfan Residents Group
• Llanwnog/Pontdolgoch Residents Group
• Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales (Montgomeryshire Branch)
• New Mills Residents Group
• Sustainable Food – Knighton
• Zero Carbon Llanidloes