Cranswick has said it is ‘disappointed’, after the Environment Agency revealed it would not grant a permit for a proposed large pig and poultry unit in Norfolk.
King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council Planning Committee unanimously rejected the company’s application to house 14,000 pigs and 714,000 chickens at nearby sites in Methwold and Feltwell in April.
Cranswick indicated that it was considering an appeal, however. Separately, it had also applied to the EA to modify its existing permit for the site.
However, the EA has now reportedly refused the unit a permit – because it does not believe ‘reasonable measures’ had been put in place to minimise the impact of ammonia from it.
The agency warned ammonia gas generated by manure from the farm was likely to have ‘an adverse effect’ on the nearby Breckland Special Protection Area and Breckland Forest Site of Special Scientific Interest and said Cranswick had not provided enough information about how it would mitigate this, the BBC reported.
It said it did not agree Cranswick ‘has applied all reasonable measures to minimise the impact of the predicted ammonia from the proposed installation’.
Existing permit
A Cranswick spokesperson said: “The site already has a permit in place and therefore we are disappointed to have been informed by the EA of their decision to refuse the permit for the redevelopment of the site at Methwold and Feltwell. We are now working to assess all of the options for the site.”
Labour MP for South West Norfolk, Terry Jermy, said the proposals ‘crossed a red line’.
“We have seen similar applications over the past few years from large food producers who are proposing sites that will be detrimental to our environment,” he said. “This would have blighted the lives of local people and the environment for many years to come.”
Higher welfare
At the time of the planning hearing, Cranswick refuted the ‘mega farm’ tag, pointing out that the pigs, for example, would be housed in 14 straw-based buildings similar to those used across the country.
It said the application was about producing more British food, to higher welfare standards, through the redevelopment of existing farms. The renovated site would produce 0.5% of the pigs, and 0.5% of the chickens, reared in the UK.
“At a time of rising prices, trade wars and escalating international tensions, now is the time Britain needs to produce more food at home, using modern, efficient and sustainable forms of farming,” it said in its final briefing to the planning committee.
“Not doing so will have a detrimental impact on UK economic growth, on food prices for consumers locally and nationally, and on direct and indirect employment opportunities, within Norfolk and across the wider UK.”
Cranswick said it ‘fully recognised that a range of concerns and views have been expressed by local stakeholders and residents’, and had worked hard to address the issues.