Plans for chicken farm near Sleaford spark national objections but little local alarm
There's been over 1,000 online objections to the plans
Plans for a chicken farm which attracted more than 1,000 online objections have proven less controversial with local residents.
More than two million birds would be raised each year at Newton Grange Farm in Newton for supermarkets.
It has proved one of the most controversial plans handled by North Kesteven District Council, with over hundreds of negative comments received from around the country.
However, most local people the Local Democracy Reporting Service spoke to had no idea about the application or its online controversy.
Several said they had no objections as long as there wasn’t a bad smell.
The application would be located off the A15, around a mile from the villages of Threekingham and Walcot.
Hilary Wesley from Threekingham said: “I’ve not heard about the plans at all, I’m not on Facebook.
“But the country needs feeding. It’s better that it comes locally than overseas.
“Ideally, we don’t want the smell of chickens, but we live in the country so you have to put up with things like that.
Anne Parr, who was walking her dog in Walcott, was also surprised to hear about the plans.
“Chickens can have a God-awful smell, so that would be our main concern. It depends on the way the wind is blowing.
“But they’ve got to build these farms somewhere, so it seems like as good a place as any.”
However even those who lived closest to the site weren’t concerned, with one saying: “It’s so far away, it’s irrelevant to us.”
A local petition started by Barbara and Steve Leaning has been signed by 64 people.
Barbara previously said: “I think it’s wrong and cruel to keep any living things, birds or animals, shut up inside a shed, not being able to move around freely or even see sunlight.”
The developers Hinch Enterprises say many objections have been influenced by a national campaign by the Coalition Against Factory Farming, rather than the plan’s actual merits.
Ian Pick of Harrison Pick Ltd, speaking for the developer, said: “Having worked on poultry farm planning applications for over 20 years, I can confidently say that Newton Grange Farm represents one of the strongest locations I’ve seen in terms of planning merit, environmental safeguarding, and animal welfare standards.”