Minutes:
40.1 Item 7A
Application: DC/20/02052
Proposal: Full Planning Application – Erection of 3 no. poultry houses with associated admin block, store, feed bins and alterations to vehicular access. ** The original proposal for 4 poultry houses has been reduced to 3 poultry houses in response to consultee comments**
Site location: THORNDON- Castle Hill Farm, Thorndon, Suffolk, IP23 7JT
Applicant: Castle Hill Chicken Ltd
40.2 The Case Officer presented the application to the Committee outlining the proposal before Members, the layout of the site, and the officer reccomendation of refusal.
40.3 The Case Officer responded to Members’ questions on issues including: that the proposed development was for 2 chicken sheds, the HGV movements in the area including weight restrictions on roads in the area, the response from Suffolk County Council’s Highways Team, the supply chain associated with chickens in the area, the environmental health implications surrounding ammonia emissions, and the number of birds currently occupying the existing shed.
40.4 A short break was taken between 10:28-10:38 during which the Chair left the meeting. Vice-Chair, Councillor Barry Humphreys took the Chair for the remainder of the meeting.
40.5 Members considered the representation from Marion Ravenhall of Thorndon Parish Council who spoke against the application.
40.6 The Parish representative responded to Members’ questions on issues including the road weight restrictions in the area.
40.7 Members considered the representation from Richard Berry of Eye Town Council who had been allowed to speak by the Chair due to the sites relationship with Eye.
40.8 Members considered the representation from Jonny Rankin who spoke as the Agent.
40.9 The Agent responded to Members’ questions on issues including: where the chickens would be taken to be processed and the proposed vehicular movements from the site.
40.10 Members considered the representation from the Ward Member, Councillor Andrew Stringer who spoke against the application.
40.11 The Case Officer advised Members that the site currently processed 40,000 chickens per cycle and that the new proposal would increase this to 140,000.
40.12 Members debated the application on the issues including: the state of the existing sheds, that chicken rearing was common in the north of Mid Suffolk, the concerns regarding vehicle movements in the area, and the environmental health impact from the site.
40.13 Councillor James Caston proposed that the application be refused as detailed in the officer recommendation. Councillor Richard Meyer Seconded the proposal.
40.14 The Area Planning manager advised Members that if they were concerned regarding the highways impact then an informative note could be added to the recommendation suggested as follows:
- Informative note regarding concerns over the insufficient information on routing and potential harm on amenity within settlements nearby due to the traffic created.
40.15 The informative note was adopted into the resolution by the proposer and seconder.
40.16 By a unanimous vote
40.17 RESOLVED
That the application is REFUSED planning permission/listed building consent/other for the following reasons:-
The operation of the development will produce an unacceptable level of odour impact experienced by users of the adjacent Covance employment site that would result in a loss of amenity at this premises. The land is therefore not appropriate for the proposed use because the odour generated by the operation would contribute to unacceptable levels of air pollution in the locality, contrary to the objectives of paras 170 and 180 of the NPPF and policy CS4 of the Mid Suffolk Core Strategy 2008.
Informative Note:
- Informative note regarding concerns over the insufficient information on routing and potential harm on amenity within settlements nearby due to the traffic created.
Supporting documents: