MORE than 1,500 objections to what is believed would be the largest pig farm in the UK have been received by South Derbyshire District Council.
The development proposed by Midland Pig Producers (MPP) to build a 2,500-sow rearing unit at land adjacent to Foston Prison is facing fierce opposition after the council has received 1,640 objections so far.
While many residents and campaigners believe the number of objections means everyone ‘knows that factory farming is wrong’, MPP says this figure does not represent Foston as a community and says that objections have come from all over the world, submitted by large organisations.
If plans are accepted, Midland Pig Producers (MPP) will also build a feed mill, hoppers, a mess block, water treatment buildings and storage buildings, a service building, methane gas storage tanks supplying an electricity generation facility and also incorporating a visitor centre.
The application also includes four agricultural workers’ homes with garaging, landscaping, a surface water attenuation pond, and rainwater retention area with site parking facilities, weighbridges, and security fencing.
Director of the company James Leavesley has said his unit would be built on agricultural land – an area which many objectors believe is greenfield.
Justin Kirswell, campaigns manager at Viva! – a vegan and animal welfare society, which also submitted an objection – said: “The opposition to what is likely to be Britain’s biggest ever pig farm is quite staggering. It even dwarfs the level of objections for the proposed 8,100-cow mega-dairy in Nocton, Lincolnshire.
“Local people, and those that instinctively know that factory farming is wrong, will take cold comfort in the words of James Leavesley. To try to brush off the development as making use of agricultural land for just another agricultural purpose is disingenuous to the highest degree. To concrete over a pretty and productive greenfield site next to a small village, to build an industrial unit full to the brim with over 20,000 animals, is scandalous.” A spokesperson for Midland Pig Producers said: “Everyone has a right to their opinion, but the vast majority of these emails and letters, which have been sent from all over the world, are from pressure group supporters, not local residents. The views of these pressure groups are not representative of the wider general public.
“We were careful to take the views of local people into account during the development of our plans and, as a result, made several significant changes.”
