A Herefordshire farm’s bid to build six “large” poultry units has been rejected on environmental grounds.

The planned development, on a field at Green Farm, Lyonshall, away from any current buildings, would have housed “up to 312,000 broiler birds per cycle”, according to the application.

It would have covered nearly two hectares in all, with each shed being 92 by 28 metres – about half the size of a standard football pitch – and over 5m high.

“Whilst the buildings are large, it is considered that in the context of their location and surroundings that the amount and scale of development is appropriate,” the application said.

An environment impact assessment and technical reports “demonstrate that the proposed development will not cause significant environmental impact”, it added.

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But Herefordshire Council planners this week refused the bid, saying it contained “insufficient information” to demonstrate it would not harm the rivers Wye and Lugg Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC).

Nor had the farm demonstrated an “implementable and technically adequate drainage infrastructure” capable of preventing an increased risk of flooding.

It would also be potentially harmful to the nearby Crump Oak Wood, an ancient woodland, and to other nearby trees, the council’s planning officer concluded.

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust said: “It is now abundantly clear that the proliferation of IPUs (intensive poultry units) is contributing to serious environmental harm, particularly to water quality of the River Wye SAC and its tributaries.

“Chicken manure is known to contribute to phosphate pollution problems in the Wye. There is currently a surplus of phosphate being applied to land in the catchment and this development will simply add more.”

Lyonshall Parish Council said in its objection to the units: “To permit an additional producer of phosphates at a time when there is no housing development because of the phosphates problem would be beyond belief.”

Over 150 individual objections were also submitted. The Environment Agency however did not formally object to the plan.

The farm had also sought a connection through the wood to the A480 road between Lyonshall and Woonton, and outline permission for a poultry manager’s house on-site, along with 7m-high feed bins and solar panels for the new shed roofs.

A similar bid was rejected in September 2020. The application claimed that objections then, mainly due to concerns over air quality, had been addressed in the revised bid.

The applicant, FC Jones & Co of Lyonhall, said the planned development would help “bring us closer to being self-sufficient in poultry meat in the UK and reducing the need to import meat, reducing greenhouse gasses from fossil fuel in transportation and other associated pollution”.

Modern units also “provide much higher standards of environmental management, animal welfare, energy efficiency and bio-security”, it added, while the new units would have created two full-time jobs.