Plans for new poultry farm

Chicken farmers have submitted plans to build a new 360,000-bird poultry farm on a field near Kington.

Kinsey Hern, of F C Jones & Co, has submitted the plans to Herefordshire Council to build six poultry units, 18 feed bins and a biomass boiler building at Green Farm in Lyonshall.

The proposals also include 250kW of solar panels which would be placed on the roof of the units and a home for a site manager.

The proposed site would house up to 60,000 broiler birds in each shed per cycle and the farm would have direct access onto the A480.

According to the proposals each poultry unit would be steel-framed, fully-insulated and clad externally with profiled sheeting and coloured juniper green.

Each unit would have 15 high velocity ridge fans and ten gable fans at the western edge to disperse bad odours and keep internal temperatures to animal welfare standards.

Mr Hern also wants permission to build a home suitable for a site manager to provide 24 hour a day and seven day a week supervision.

“The poultry manager’s role is to provide the day to day labour and oversee the running of the site to ensure it meets the required management,” the applicant’s design and access statement read.

“This includes bird welfare, shed environmental controls, feed deliveries, and chick and bird movements on and off the site and to ensure the heating and ventilation systems are working at all times.”

If approved, the proposed poultry units will be built on arable land and a new heavy goods vehicle track would be built to access the yard.

The plans also include a maintenance track to the rear of the units, dirty water and gas tanks, electrical generation cabins a weight bridge and a shed.

There would also be a detention pond at the southern end of the site to manage surface water.

Residents have until April 30 to comment on the scheme which Herefordshire Council planners are expected to consider by July 1.