Free range egg farm at Thornton le Beans ‘should be refused’ planners say

Hambleton District Council’s planning committee will on Thursday consider Morton on Swale free range egg farmer Steven Tweddle’s revised proposal to build the 9,762sq m buildings east of Pillrigg Lane, Thornton Le Beans, near Northallerton.

Agents for Mr Tweddle have said the scheme is third smaller than one initially proposed which sparked uproar among residents and that the free range egg units would now only by 7.99m high rather than the originally envisaged 10.13m high structures.

They have stated the proposal would help supermarkets’ commitment to helping end caged colony production, bringing 128,000 laying hens onto 158 acres of land which would revert from intensive arable production to grassland.

The site of a proposed egg farm near Thornton le Beans

Planning documents state if approved, the proposal would lead to an £8.6m investment in the area, the creation of nine full-time jobs and a boost to the local economy of more than £2.2m annually.

The agents have stated as part of the RSPCA requirements for free range hens, the area would see eight acres of native trees planted as a minimum.

The scheme has attracted many objections from residents of Thornton le Beans and the surrounding villages who have branded the proposal an “industrial scale activity” in a tranquil area that would also compromise road safety and introduce foul smells and unwanted noise.

An officer’s report to the meeting states although the proposal would create additional traffic including HGVs on the lanes around Thornton le Beans, the local highway authority does not consider the impact to be sufficiently severe to warrant the scheme being refused.

However, planning officers have found the site and the scale of the proposal would have significant impact on the area.

It states: “The scale and nature of the development proposed will change the local open rural character and assessment is made above on the local landscape character.

“There will be amenity impacts such as noise and visual amenity. It is considered these are limited to the edge of the site and given the extensive environmental control regime and based on the research provided it is considered that the application can be made sound in terms of the impacts on local residential amenity.”

The report concludes Mr Tweddle’s application “makes only a limited assessment of alternative sites for such a proposal”,  and the proposal would be in conflict with the central thrust of the Local Plan’s policies to protect landscape character and the distinctive qualities of Hambleton countryside.