Lorry servicing plan refused over River Lugg pollution fears

Council experts were concerned about increased pollution in the River Lugg

Plans to convert farm buildings into a lorry washing and servicing shed have been refused permission over concerns over possible river pollution.

A report by Herefordshire Council said the proposal, by Lincolnshire-based Keyo Agricultural Services, would add to water pollution in the River Lugg catchment.

The proposals covered five buildings at Shucknall Court, Weston Beggard.

More than 20 people had objected to the plans.

Keyo Agricultural Services, which specialises in transporting poultry, had bought the farm as a regional base to serve the area's growing poultry industry, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The plan had been for the building to "be used for washing poultry transfer modules and the trailer bed once they have transported poultry from the brooding farm to the rearing farm", the company's application said.

The washdown water was to drain into a sealed storage tank before being spread seasonally onto adjacent fields, also owned by the company.

But a report by the council's ecology officer James Bisset said the application had not shown that the dirty water from the lorries, containing not only manure but also oils, fuels and "unspecified" cleaning chemicals from the washdown, would not end up in the protected river catchment.

In his decision, Mr Bank said the applicants failed to show the plan would not have a negative effect on the surrounding environment.