Hi All
We have a number of applications for Poultry Units at the moment (for meat, not eggs). The current practice seems to be that applicants go to the EA as the first port of call and get an Environmental Permit (EP) with a view of then coming to us to say, "it's all ok, you don't need to worry, we've got an EP so there won't be any unacceptable harm to the environment". Our Environmental Health advisors thought this approach was ok, in light of what the NPPF and PPG says about not duplicating other controls, but the EP was challenged by local residents and it became clear that the process for getting an EP isn't in any way robust. Luckily it's not salutary, but a lesson and warning to everyone else all the same. When the NNPF talks about duplicating controls, it means after the event and the land use has been accepted via the planning process.
In any event, looking at the Environmental Statement chapter on smell, it sets out that the smells during the life cycles of the chicks are fine as they're generally contained within the building and the smells can be treated with the right equipment...it then goes on to say that when the cycle is finished and the doors are opened "there is little available information on the magnitude of this peak emission, but it is likely to be greater than any emission that might occur when the birds are in the house". After the doors are open and the chicks taken away, the building is cleared out of all the muck etc. and it seems to me we have no info on this.
This seems a complete cop-out to me, particularly when we look at chicken farms submitted to us over the last 5 years which have all had the odour section written by the same person who concludes each case with exactly the same wording!
Just wondering if anyone has any experience of this.
many thanks
Paul
