Will Charles’s organic farm plan stink out William and Kate’s home?

PRINCE CHARLES’S latest environmental project appears to have got up the noses of Sandringham locals.

Plans to introduce a 500-strong herd of beef cattle to the estate are prompting fears that farmyard odours will end up wafting towards Anmer Hall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s residence.

The move, which will see manure being used on crops instead of chemical-laden fertiliser, is part of an initiative to turn the estate into a fully organic operation by July.

Planning papers reveal that permission is being sought for two giant cattle sheds measuring 96m by 30m each.

Manure from the herd will be stored in six separate heaps, each with a capacity of 400 tons. The documents also show one of the proposed manure sites is just 600 metres from Anmer Hall, which was given by the Queen to William and Kate when they married.

Some local residents fear it will lead to an increase in unpleasant smells. One villager said: ‘Organic farming is all very worthy, but it comes at a price for people who live downwind of a dung heap or next door to the fields where slurry is being sprayed around.

‘It looks like William and Kate will have to put up with the smell like everyone else.’

King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council still has to decide whether to give its consent.

Sandringham parish councillors say they ‘support the principle of moving to more sustainable, organic farming’, but added in a letter to the council: ‘We would want you to be satisfied that there will be no escape of obnoxious odours that will impact residents.’

Natural England also expressed concern that the cattle herd could hit the ‘air quality’ of local conservation areas such as Dersingham Bog and Roydon Common.

But local Conservative councillor Tony Bubb said: ‘You don’t move to the country and not expect smells. Most people will be sympathetic to these plans.’

Charles took over the running of the 20,000acre estate when Prince Philip retired in 2017. Half of the land is farmed by Sandringham while the rest is rented to tenant farmers.

A Sandringham spokesman said the plans were ‘part of the estate’s ongoing conversion to organic farming’.