Council approves plans for huge broiler chicken farm
Plans for a huge chicken farm near Trefeglwys in Powys have been approved.
In November 2020, an application was made to Powys County Council by farmers RJ Hughes & Co to build poultry units at Argoed Farm, which would see 220,000 broiler chickens reared for meat at the site.
The farm already had 32,000 egg laying chickens there.
Three new units will be built, and the egg laying building will be converted into a fourth unit.
The broilers will be brought in as day old chicks at a 50-50 mix of males and females, and at the end of the growing period they will be collected and transported to a processing plant
In a letter confirming the plans had been approved, the council’s head of property, planning and public protection Gwilym Davies had stipulated a number of conditions that developers need to fulfil before they can build the units.
One of these conditions is that a passing bay needed to be built along the county highway that leads up to the farm.
This was for reasons of highway safety.
In a further “non-material amendment” planning application just approved by Powys planners – this condition has been removed, which means that it does not have to be built.
Concerns
Trefeglwys Community Council had opposed the scheme.
They had concerns over the size of the development as well as the need for “major” changes to the nearby roads to accommodate a rise in journeys back and forth to the farm rising.
Agent, Mandy Seedhouse of Berry’s, had said in documents supporting the application that road improvements had already been made.
Ms Seedhouse said: “This access route was improved as part of the existing egg layer unit under the consent
“The road improvements consisted of localised widening and surface improvements to the farm access road, geometry improvements for use by articulated HGVs (Heavy Goods Vehicles) at the farm access road junction, a series of passing places along the C-class road and geometry and visibility
improvements at the junction between the C-class road and the B4569.
“A total of four passing places were provided along the C-class road to allow passing by slow-moving traffic.”
A further sustainable drainage application (SuDS) will need to be approved before building work can start.
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“The broilers will be brought in as day old chicks at a 50-50 mix of males and females”
Oh well at least they are gender balanced. (Bladdy PC gone mad I tells you! Quotas is disguzztin)
“and at the end of the growing period they will be collected and transported to a processing plant”
And for those that don’t know that growing period is 5-6 weeks old. Naturally they live 5-10 years. Enjoy your nuggets, nation of animal lovers.
Quarter of a million chickens on a hilside overlooking the Severn, what could possibly go wrong?
Who cares? Not Powys County Council obviously…
Bye bye the river Wye
So much for animal welfare and the potential environmental impact!
This is absurd. Some of us are dead keen on keeping agriculture as a key cornerstone of our rural communities and I’m told that I should therefore support this type of venture. Except this is NOT agriculture, it is a toxic form of industrialised food production with no concern for the welfare of the birds. How can there be any concern ? They are “processed” in next to no time after hatching. No doubt given the confined space a number perish before processing. Bloody awful. Just to satisfy the fashion for fast food. Well don’t satisfy that demand, focus instead… Read more »
They do remain so. I’m also concerned about the minimum definition of “free range”. It’s not what people imagine it is
Well, I’m an old fashioned open yard/field bloke who likes to see chickens pecking away and sheltering in coops. I know it sounds a bit “good old days” but that’s how they taste so good when they get eaten.