Farm hit by bird flu bids to open bulldozer training school
- Published
The plans involve leasing the space as an excavator driver training facility
A farm which lost 15,000 chickens to bird flu is aiming to turn part of its land into a bulldozer training facility in a bid to save the business.
DCP Farms said it suffered a "devastating loss" in the outbreak at Brooklands House Farm, Doveridge, in November.
The farm's egg business then folded and it cannot keep poultry until 2024.
It has now applied to Derbyshire Dales District Council to lease land for an excavator training facility.
David Poyser, from DCP Farms, has applied for a two year lease for the facility on land near the A50, which has not had crops grown on it since waste was tipped on the site while the road was being built, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
He wrote in his application that the Government does not provide compensation for firms affected by avian flu outbreaks and he has enlisted the help of Dales MP Sarah Dines to lobby for a change in policy on the issue.
The excavator training facility would be operated by plant company DOTTS which would train drivers in a range of construction vehicles on the site.
The application also includes plans to install a 100-metre railway track so that trainees can learn how to operate a number of the machines.
It added that the plans would create four full-time and two part-time jobs.
The district council is expected to make a decision on the lease in the next few months.
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