A POULTRY farm in north Herefordshire is hoping it can almost double in size as it submits plans to redevelop the site.

Herefordshire Council has been told there would be no significant impact if the farm in Shobdon, near Leominster, gets the green light from planners.

In fact, bosses at the site say it could reduce the impact on locals.

The plans submitted to the council show how the site at Park Top would be redeveloped.

Applicant Richard Corbett, of Corbett Farms Limited, wants to demolish the two existing poultry houses and one domestic dwelling and replace them with four steel poultry houses and one domestic dwelling, with associated equipment such as feed bins, generator and gate house.

If approved, capacity would swell from 24,000 hens to 40,000.

“The existing buildings that are currently in use are life-expired, and the new buildings would be built to the latest standards of animal welfare and thermal efficiency,” the design and access statement said.

It added: “The most significant point with regards to the application proposal is that there is no change to the operation of the site.

“Furthermore, with the improved efficiency of the new buildings and equipment, noise and light emissions from the site will be reduced. The existing buildings are separated by an 85-metre external walk, which does not help with biosecurity.

“The application proposal is to replace the existing buildings one and two with four 103.6-metre by 15.2-metre state-of-the-art poultry buildings.

“These will be connected by a three-metre wide link room across the west of both buildings so that the site can be operated without the operators having to go outside. The proposal is also to replace the existing poultry managers’ dwelling with a new house at the far west of the site.”

Currently, the farm takes chicks at the point of lay and keeps them for 39 weeks.

Eggs are collected daily and taken to the nearby Avara hatchery near Shobdon Church.

The site is then emptied, cleared and restocked over five weeks before the process repeats.

The statement added: “Because the operations on the site are not going to significantly change, but the new equipment installed will be more efficient, the long-term noise impact of the site will be a net reduction.”

While farms may be controversial, animal welfare is a top priority for Mr Corbett. It’s also farms like this which keep one of the county’s biggest industries going.

With farms dotted around Herefordshire, as well as Avara’s factory in Hereford and feed mill at Allensmore, the industry employs 20,990 in the West Midlands, according to a Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs report published in January 2020.

The report, based on information from 2018, also said while total income from farming decreased by 16 per cent between 2014 and 2018 to £413 million, the poultry industry was the third-largest contributor to the value of the output with £313 million.

It is because the importance of the industry is to the local economy that the Hereford Times has been banging the drum for farmers over the past four months.

Our #BackingHerefordshireFarming campaign aims to highlights the important work of farmers, as well as discover the problems they are facing.