‘Engage withus’ pleato chicken factory

A call has been made for developers to engage fully with locals on plans to upgrade and rebuild a Perthshire factory at the centre of several COVID outbreaks.

Potential proposals for the 2 Sisters poultry processing facility in Coupar Angus include demolishing the existing facility and rebuilding it on neighbouring land.

Two pre-application reports were put before Perth and Kinross Council’s planning and development management committee on Tuesday (June 1).

The 2 Sisters plant in Coupar Angus has hit the national headlines after being at the centre of three COVID outbreaks since last August.

Amber Real Estate Investment has plans to upgrade the current facility to increase capacity, then build a new low carbon state-ofthe art £65 million facility on neighbouring land which the company currently owns.

The proposals would then see the current poultry processing facility demolished, unlocking the site for residential, general industrial, storage or distribution uses.

Councillors on PKC’s planning and development management committee were presented with two pre-application reports for the George Street factory.

The plans outlined in the first include: altering and extending the factory, demolition of a house, the formation of a car park, alterations to main entrance, formalisation of existing car park, creation of an engineering yard, gist yard, temporary area and concrete yard.

The plans outlined in the second were to demolish the existing poultry processing facility and rebuild it.

Liberal Democrat councillor Lewis Simpson told the committee: “The 2 Sisters plant has featured in my inbox for a number of years - but not always for a good reason.

“I hope the applicants will take this splendid opportunity to ensure they engage fully with the community. Coupar Angus is a hotbed of volunteers of the development trust and all sorts of other organisations who will happily engage with them.”

The consultation period had been changed from being held on June 3 to June 30.