Radnorshire and Montgomeryshire, and Herefordshire and Shropshire on the other side of the border, are currently experiencing a surge in applications for intensive poultry units (IPUs). The density of these developments has reached a level unmatched in Europe. CPRW Brecon and Radnor Branch have concerns that these developments are sometimes being given planning permission without adequate examination of the impacts, either individually or in cumulation, on our environment, landscape and residential amenity.
We fully understand the importance of diversification projects to our farmers, but it cannot be acceptable for our regulators and decision makers to allow development which will lead to serious and lasting environmental damage. We are discussing these issues with both Natural Resources Wales, the Office of the Well-Being Commissioner for Wales, Powys County Council and the Welsh Assembly Petitions Committee.
Shared concerns: Concerns about the environmental costs of the expansion of the intensive poultry industry in the area are shared by other local and national environmental Non-Governmental Organisations.
Local Development Plan: During the Local Development Plan (LDP) Inquiry process our branch of CPRW presented evidence to support the case for the inclusion of a specific policy to ensure impacts of IPUs are consistently recognised in the planning process. At the Inspector's request (and with the help of our planning barrister) we submitted a draft policy. Powys County Council planning team strongly resisted inclusion of an IPU policy and the Welsh Government representative at the Inquiry did not support our arguments. The opportunity has been missed and there is no IPU policy in the new Powys LDP. In June 2018, Welsh Government have issued guidance to Local Authorities recommending the inclusion of IPU policies in LDPs.
Welsh Assembly Petition: In May 2018 we submitted a petition to the Welsh Assembly calling for Government to ensure that the poultry industry in Wales is environmentally sustainable, in line with the Government's own recent legislation. We have since been in correspondence with the Petitions Committee and have submitted further evidence in response to the Environment Minister's submissions to the Committee.
Mapping: We have prepared a cumulative map showing poultry developments in Radnorshire and Montgomeryshire, and the part of Brecknockshire lying outside the National Park. This map shows the locations of Chicken Sheds in Powys where either Consent has been given or the application is In Planning and is based on information publicly available on the Powys planning portal. We have also prepared some further maps, including an animated map, and some detailed analysis which may be found here.
We have recently (July 2019) been carrying out a combined IPU mapping project with Herefordshire and Shropshire CPREs and Shropshire WT. You can view the results of this work here.
2016 Seminar: Download a brief summary of our Ponds, Rivers and Poultry seminar (held at Llanigon Village Hall on 29th October 2016) here.
[Revised August 2019]