Campaigners have reacted angrily to a decision by a council to give the green light for a chicken ‘factory farm’ in a village near Spilsby.

East Lindsey District Council narrowly approved, subject to conditions, a plan to build four poultry units on land north-east of Grange Farm on Fenside Road in Toynton St Peter.

The sheds will breed and raise up to 1.35 million chickens a year for meat production, raising serious worries about animal welfare. And campaigners also claim the units will have a negative impact on the environment, creating noise and smells.

Before the council’s decisive planning committee meeting, local residents staged a protest outside the venue, highlighting what they described as “unacceptable risks to the local community”. And after the go-ahead, they were equally furious.

Campaigners stage a protest outside the East Lindsey District Council offices before the planning committee meeting.

placeholder image — Campaigners stage a protest outside the East Lindsey District Council offices before the planning committee meeting.

One Toynton St Peter resident, Lyndon Brace, said: “These intensive poultry units will create only two jobs but cause suffering to many people in the area.

"It’s time to draw a line in the sand. Make Lincolnshire attractive for people to live and invest here, not a big industrial estate. Please don’t throw us under the bus so this applicant can fill his wallet.”

The plan, submitted by RH-J (Farms) Ltd, sits alongside other proposals, made by different applicants, for similar chicken ‘factory farms’, including on countryside land in Keal Cotes, six miles south of Spilsby, and at Harriet’s Farm in Poolham, Horsington.

All have attracted fierce objections from residents, who have been backed by the Communities Against Factory Farming (CAFF) organisation.

Two protesters make their feelings known against the proposed chicken 'factory farm' in Toynton St Peter.

After the Toynton St Peter decision, Jo Lazarus, campaign co-ordinator at CAFF, said: “We are extremely disappointed that the council has approved a development that could put residents’ health at risk and cause horrifying suffering to millions of birds.

"As some councillors argued at the planning meeting, we need to move away from the harms of ‘factory farming’. The industrialisation of Lincolnshire needs to stop.”

Air quality was also a concern of campaigners, with many fearing the development will lead to pollution that could harm residents’ health, particularly because of HGVs trudging to and from the site. And many were also worried about the dark, cramped conditions the chickens would be housed in.

However, the applicant said the development had been carefully planned to overcome the concerns raised.

More than 1.3 million chickens per year will be bred and raised within the four sheds.

Spokesman Alistair Hall-Jones, 44-year-old director of RH-J Farms, said: “A priority for us has always been to limit and to mitigate the impact on the local community and the environment.

“This is why we have planned for all transport to come directly from the A16 main road and not through Toynton village.

“The risk of pollution to watercourses or odour from the chicken manure will be limited because it will go in covered lorries to a power station to generate renewable electricity. It will not be stored on site or spread on the land.

“As a food production industry, we need to invest in modern, efficient units such as this to be able to feed our growing population without reliance on foreign produce.”