Industrial-scale farms in East Anglia have violated environmental standards more than 700 times in the last seven years, according to Freedom of Information (FOI) data.
NGOs Sustain and Feedback Global revealed that intensive poultry and pig farms have broken environmental standards at least 776 times. Between 2017 and 2024, there were at least two breaches per week, or approximately ten per month.
Terry Jermy MP, Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk, said he was “appalled and shocked” and called for a “full review” to ensure that environmental protections are in place and be adhered, protecting the land and waterways in surrounding areas.
Jermy stated, “This is now the time to have a real conversation about intensive factory farming. To many farmers I speak to they have said to me ‘this isn’t farming, its industrialisation’.”
Only last week was the deadline for submission to Kings Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council for the proposed “mega-farm” at Methwold, which if approved, would become the largest in the UK. The megafarm would be in Mr. Jermy MP’s constituency and has seen over 15,000 local residents complain to the council about it.
Norfolk is already deemed the “megafarm” capital of Europe. While the UK has seen a 20% increase in mega-farms since 2016.
Jermy has said from the beginning, “No ifs, no buts” to the Methwold megafarm.
Adding, “This now only highlights the case further and should be the death knell for the proposal. This will be catastrophic for the environment, for animal welfare and for those who live in the surrounding areas.
“I will vehemently continue to actively object to this application and type of farming on behalf of the residents I represent.”
The Methwold site will plan to house 14,000 pigs and 870,000 hens at linked locations in Methwold and Feltwell has sparked uproar in the nearby rural villages with concerns over multiple issues from animal welfare to air and water pollution.
Formal objections have been made by both Feltwell and Methold Parish Councils and a whole range of other organisations as well as local residents. The proposal needs a permit from the Environment Agency because of the serious risk of pollution, and the Agency recently invited comments on the application for this permit.
