Knighton campaigners claim legal victory will see chicken farm planning permission quashed

ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners are claiming a  legal victory, and that planning approval of a 110,000 chicken farm near Knighton will be quashed.

But a date for a Judicial Review remains in the court lists, and it is likely that the application will remain in the planning system waiting for a new decision.

Sustainable Food Knighton (SFK) said that Powys County Council (PCC) has conceded that it had acted unlawfully in granting planning permission last September, for a 110,000 broiler chicken intensive poultry unit (IPU) at Llanshay Farm near the town.

Last November SFK applied for a judicial review of PCC’s decision.

They claim after a High Court Judge granted permission to proceed to a full judicial review hearing, PCC conceded the case.

SFK spokesperson, Camilla Saunders, said:

“We are still in the process of agreeing the final draft order with the council so that this can be approved by the court, but essentially this means that the permission for the IPU development will be quashed.

“Although the application can still be re-opened, the particular point conceded will have to be addressed along with, potentially, other grounds for objection that the group highlighted.

“These included factors such as the local impact on the landscape, water and soil health, biodiversity and human health, and also the cumulative impact of the hundreds of IPUs now in Powys.

“Taken together,  the resulting loss of biodiversity, ground and water pollution, increased greenhouse gas emissions and impacts on human health from ammonia emissions present a real risk, not just to Powys and Wales, but globally.”

The application by Thomas Price to build units to house 110,000 broiler chicken at Llanshay Farm near Knighton was approved in September 2020, by planning officers under delegated powers.

His agent, Ian Pick, said that the Judicial Review would only “wind the clock” back on the application

Mr Pick said:

“We are aware of the situation and will need to work through the issues raised in the Judicial Review paperwork and amend the scheme to overcome those issues.

“Powys will then have to re-determine the application.”

“If a Judicial Review is successful it means that the decision is taken away, and winds the clock back to before the decision was done.

“It’s an automatic process, the decision notice will be withdrawn.

“It does not remove the planning application, it just means the decision needs to be made again.”

A spokesman for Powys County Council said:

“Judicial proceedings are still ongoing so it would be inappropriate to comment at this stage.”

The Administrative Court for Wales in Cardiff told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that a hearing for the Judicial Review is still set for April 13.

Correspondences asking for submission had been sent to both parties on January 6, but no arguments had been received so far.