Tasley Action Group formed to fight plans that would see a chicken factory farm housing more than 1.5 million birds being built on the edge of Bridgnorth. In March, they appeared before a panel of senior Appeal Court judges alongside representatives of Shropshire Council and the farm owner. Judgement was reserved to be handed down at a later date. Shropshire Council granted planning permission for the factory farm in September 2017.
The group disputes whether the Council fully considered the impacts that the farm and the waste it generates would have on people’s health and the environment. They say the factory farm would rear 1.5 million birds producing over 2,300 tonnes of chicken manure each year, dispersing odours and fine particles of chicken waste over the surrounding area and that the birds would be slaughtered at eight weeks old and manure and waste by-products spread untreated on open fields.
The group contends that, apart from the dust and odours, thousands of gallons of water will be used to wash out the factory sheds; the run-off will contain detergents, chicken remains, disinfectants, nitrates and residues of medicated feed — which must be disposed in an environmentally correct manner. To find out more about the group and its aims, find them on Facebook.