Members of planning committee to visit proposed poultry unit
MEMBERS of the Snowdonia Park planning committee are to visit the site of a proposed huge poultry unit which local residents are opposing.
One hundred and thirty objections have been received to the plan by G and J Pugh who farm at Ty’n y Pwll, Llanegryn, near Tywyn.
They are concerned about the scale of the 2,700-square metre building, the increase in traffic, smell from the manure and possible vermin.
Among the objectors are the owners of Castell Mawr, the nearest residential property to the site, which is only 85 metres away.
The 135-metre-long shed would accommodate 32,000 freerange hens with access to 40 acres of adjoining land which would return to the shed to lay their eggs.
At present the farm has about 2,000 chicken and 500 head of sheep, and 100 calves are reared through the winter.
In their design and access statement the applicants say the droppings would fall onto a conveyor belt and then taken to either a manure spreader or to a covered store before eventually being spread on the land.
A landscaping scheme has been proposed to reduce the visual impact from the Castell Mawr hillfort, which is a scheduled ancient monument, and CADW have raised no objection.
The Park Authority’s head of conservation, woodlands and agriculture has, however, voiced concern about the manure management plan, describing it as “vague and lacking in certainty”.
Fifteen letters of support for the scheme were submitted to the authority, arguing that it will help sustain and diversify the activities of a working farm.
Ty’n y Pwll currently has one full-time worker and the two sons help out at weekends and in the evenings.
The development would allow one of the sons to work there fulltime and create two additional part-time jobs.
The planning committee has deferred a decision to enable all members to visit the site.