River campaigners win chicken farm legal challenge

Environmental campaigners have won a court victory against plans for an industrial-scale chicken farm

Campaigners for cleaner rivers have won a High Court bid to overturn planning permission for an industrial-scale chicken farm.

A judge has ruled that Shropshire Council failed to consider the overall impact the poultry farm could have on the environment when passing the proposal for four large sheds in Felton Butler near Shrewsbury.

Scientist Dr Alison Caffyn, from Ludlow, who took the council to court amid fears for the River Severn, said it was a victory for communities across the UK who were standing up to factory farming.

A spokesperson for Shropshire Council said: "We acknowledge today's judgement and will now take some time to study it and consider its implications."

While chicken manure can be used as fertiliser on farmland to help crops to grow, during rain it can run into streams and rivers. The phosphate and nitrate contained in the muck can cause algae, which can starve plants of oxygen and cause river water to turn green.

Campaigners and academics worried for the Severn say such run-off has already been a problem for the River Wye, affecting protected species such as salmon, otters and kingfishers.

"There's more manure coming from industrial agriculture than comes from the human population," said Dr Caffyn, who sits on the advisory board for the charity River Action.

"It's running off the land and polluting our rivers.

"We've seen what's happened with pollution on the River Wye, we're really worried that's what's happening in the River Severn catchment too."

She added: "There are nearly 65 chickens for every person in Shropshire and yet the council still thought we needed more.

"This [court] ruling proves what we've said all along: The planning system has been putting our rivers at risk."

The council had previously said it took technical advice from the Environment Agency and Natural England before granting planning permission.

Dr Alison Caffyn brought the legal action against Shropshire Council

The legal action - part of an eight-year row over the proposal - focused on a planning application from farmers L.J. Cooke and Son.

The sheds could house up to 200,000 birds at any one time.

Ordering the planning permission of 2024 to be quashed, Judge Michael Fordham said that Shropshire Council had properly assessed the effect of spreading manure on land but had failed to consider the impact of spreading digestate as fertiliser.

Digestate is the liquid which is produced after chicken muck has been used to produce biogas.

Shropshire Council must now pay River Action's legal costs of £35,000.

Campaigners are concerned over cleanliness of rivers

Emma Dearnaley, River Action's legal lead, said: "This ruling is a wake-up call. It's a big win for our rivers.

"For too long, councils like Shropshire have been rubber-stamping intensive livestock farms without fully considering the damage they do to the surrounding environment.

"This landmark judgment means councils across the country must take the health of the wider area into account and look at the wider consequences when it comes to agricultural waste."