COUNTY planners gave the go-ahead last week for a 16,000-bird free-range poultry unit to be built near Presteigne.

Farmer Tim Hodnet applied to Herefordshire Council to install the egg production building along with feed bins and a packing and storage unit at Willey Cottage Farm, in Willey.

Malcolm Temple, an objector speaking at the planning committee meeting on October 10, raised concerns about the size of the proposal, manure spreading and the plan’s impact on the local roads and wider countryside.

He said: “The plans show only half the outdoor space necessary for 16,000 chickens. For the transport, four miles of upland road will need upgrading, totally out of keeping with the scenic aspect of the area.

“This will be a highly visible totally incongruous factory building and we are concerned with the precedent it might set.”

Sam Harrison, the applicant’s agent, said the scheme was acceptable and in line with planning policies.

He said: “This is not a large-scale intensive livestock unit but small-scale essential farm diversification initiative for a family farming business.”

Councillors Felicity Norman and Anthony Powers highlighted the potential impact manure spreading on the site could have on phosphate levels of the Lime Brook which is a tributary of the river Lugg.

Coun Powers said: “The Lugg catchment is currently and has been for years above the legal limit for phosphates.”

But coun Terry James said the committee was heading into ‘cloud-cuckoo land’.

“We’ve given planning permission for units of hundreds of thousands on farms with not as many acres,” he said.

“This is a planning application in which there are no strong grounds to refuse.”

The committee approved the scheme with eight votes for it, one against and one abstention.