Since 2022, rules on ammonia emissions have been so strict, it is almost impossible to get planning permission for new poultry farms. What will this mean for the future of the industry?
If there is one thing the poultry industry needs right now, it’s more poultry buildings. In the past month alone two major retailers – the Co-operative and Lidl – have announced plans to swiftly introduce 30kg/m stocking density requirements for all their fresh chicken.
They join Marks & Spencer and Waitrose, which have already made the shift as part of the Better Chicken Commitment, plus other retailers such as Tesco and Morrisons, which sell ‘higher welfare’ ranges of chicken stocked at the same 30kg density, rather than the 38kg maximum set under Red Tractor rules.
A stocking density 20% lower than the current maximum means 20% more space is needed to grow the same number of chickens.
But there is a major problem. Over the past few years, it has become agonisingly difficult to get planning permission for new projects. Legal requirements to minimise ammonia emissions, the thresholds for which were tightened in 2022, are one of the main reasons.
Well intentioned
Planning rules require all livestock planning applications to consider ammonia impacts on the surrounding area, where they include a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) or a special area of conservation (SAC). Thresholds were first introduced in 2010 and have been tightened several times since by Natural England, a publicly funded body, which aims to conserve the natural environment.
The aims were good. To improve air quality and ensure pollutants were kept to a minimum. The standards as of May 2022, are that livestock businesses should contribute no more than 1% of the acceptable ammonia levels for the sustainable maintenance of any given area, in combination with any other development within 10km. Prior to 2022, the threshold was 4%, and before than 20%.
Utterly bizarre
Ian Pick is a planning consultant, who for the past 18 years has worked with agriculture businesses across the UK, specialising in pig and poultry applications. His company estimates that they currently handle around 40% of all poultry related planning applications.
Pick says the new 1% levels are now preventing nearly all development from going ahead. “The threshold Natural England have set is so low you can’t comply with it on most farms,” he says.
He is facing what he describes as an “utterly bizarre” situation where planning permission for poultry units has become almost impossible to obtain, even when the project in question would lessen the environmental impact of a business already operating in an area. This means poultry businesses are increasingly being left in limbo in costly and drawn out planning procedures.
The effects of the new rules were not felt immediately, says Pick, because in 2022 the industry was facing several other major issues including financial pressures, inflation in building materials and interest rates, which meant there was not a lot of activity at that time anyway.
But a surge in interest in new developments is now bringing the situation to a head. “The activity is trying to start up again now because most of the supermarkets are pressuring the integrators to reduce stocking density to 30kg,” says Pick. A 20% reduction in stocking density, means you need 20% more space, so applications are going into the system – then coming to a grinding halt.
“What we are finding now is there are applications submitted where the number of birds on site is not changing [to comply with lower stocking density requirements]. We have got existing farms [that want more buildings] and the council and Natural England are asking for ammonia modelling. So, we are providing ammonia modelling, and it is showing that the ammonia impacts of these developments is reducing. But Natural England are still objecting.”
Nothing complies
It means that development projects that would improve the current situation are being delayed because they do not meet this new threshold.
Since he has been working in the field, Pick says he has generally had around a dozen applications in for broiler units at any one time, a dozen pig units and between 30 to 40 free range egg units going through planning at any one time.
“Since those rules have come in, when people ring up with a new project, we are running it through our ammonia screening tool and virtually nothing complies. You are talking about 90% of the enquiries can’t comply with the ammonia threshold at all, because it is simply too low.”
“What they are not taking into account is these farms have been there for years, they are producing ammonia because ammonia is an inevitable consequence of producing food, and what our proposal is doing is reducing that level of ammonia. And we’ve got Natural England objecting because it is above their threshold of 1.”
Planning system
Planning applications are made to the relevant local planning authority, through whichever district council controls the area, but Natural England is a statutory consultee on planning applications for developments that may have an effect on the statutory ecological sites, SACs and SSSIs.
Cranswick for example is currently attempting to gain planning permission in Norfolk for a combined pig and poultry farm, which would house 870,000 chickens and 14,000 pigs. According to Pick, the site would have a lower environmental impact than the existing farm on the site currently does, but is facing significant local opposition and an objection by Natural England on the grounds that it would not meet ammonia rules.
Chief executive Adam Couch recently held a meeting with Defra secretary of state Steve Barclay to raise concerns about how difficult the whole planning process has become.
Cranswick did not respond to requests for comment so it is unclear whether Defra has provided any reassurances it understands the problem.
Pick says nearly everywhere in the country – he estimates 95% – is within an impact risk zone of an SSSI.
“Basically you will never find a site more than 10km from a SSSI. If you look at the mapping systems there is nowhere left that can meet these rules,” says Pick.
“I think at this moment in time we have got three free range egg units, three pig units, and probably a dozen broiler units which are live, but the reason we have got a dozen is that nothing getting a decision. A lot of these are long standing applications. We put the application in and we are struggling to get an answer because Natural England are objecting.”
Natural England did not respond to request for comment.