CHICKEN waste will not be transported through Ledbury if the four chicken broiler units are built at Chances Pitch.

The information has come to light through emails exchanged between a Herefordshire Council planning officer, Roland Close, and Ian Pick, the principal planning consultant for the Houlbrooke family of Ockeridge Farm, who want to build the units which would house up to 200,000 birds at a time.

Mr Close asked about the disposal of poultry manure and Mr Pick replied: "On clearing of the manure from the buildings, it will be loaded into trailers and taken away from the poultry units for field storage on the farm. The manure will be spread on the farm."

The turn-around of flocks will be approximately every 35 days, raising fears among some local residents of considerable odour and disruption, on what would be virtually a monthly basis.

One local resident, in a letter to Herefordshire Council said: "The amount of traffic visiting this site would be considerable, with regular feed deliveries, regular removal and replacement of birds, regular cleaning, creating odour."

A consultation period on the re-submitted application ends on Friday, August 14, and so far there have been over 50 responses logged by the council, mainly by concerned members of the public.

But Mr Pick said the building of the broiler units would end the need to import chicken manure on the site, and would actually help to keep vehicle movements down.

He said: "The applicants currently import 2000 tonnes of poultry manure into the farm each year. This requirement will cease as the manure generated by the development will replace the manure imported."

The application states that there would be 83 extra vehicle movement to the farm each cycle, which would be every 35 days or so.

Lorries with chickens, but not loads of manure, would travel along the A4449, through Ledbury.

An earlier application by the Houlbrooke family was withdrawn in December.

The Ledbury and Colwall Action Group is bracing itself for another fight.

In a submission to Herefordshire Council, group spokesman Tracy Elgar said: "There was a very high number of objections lodged previously - and there will be again. This is a highly sensitive and difficult application which has caused significant unrest and discord within the local community, with virtually everyone opposed - with the exception of those either related to or employed by the Houlbrookes.

"The sensitivity of Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the close proximity of local dwellings, the traffic route through Ledbury and the complete disregard for those impacted by this application did, and will generate again, significant interest both locally and nationally."

In the application, the Houlbrookes put the business and employment case for the broiler units.

It states: "The business has a total annual wage bill of £270,000.

The business sectors in which W H Houlbrooke and Sons operate are under significant financial pressure, with wheat, cattle and potatoes suffering from depressed commodity prices, with some commodities, wheat for example, trading at below the costs of production.

"In order to maintain current employment levels and to secure the long term future of the business, diversification of the business into a new profitable enterprise is essential."