Terry Jermy MP has written to Kings Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council urging them to object to the proposed “mega-farm” at Methwold, which if approved, would become the largest in the UK.
Jermy said, “I have said it then and I will say it now: no ifs, no buts, I am fully against the proposal.”
Jermy, who is the Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk where the proposed new intensive livestock farm will be built, has objected to it on environmental grounds and concerns for major disruption to local residents.
The deadline for the planning consultation is at midnight on Friday 24th January after it had been delayed for the second time in December of last year.
Jermy stated, “After two delays, spanning nearly a year, the time is now for a decision to be made once and for all. An unprecedented 15,000 objections have been received by the Council and they must be listened to. This cannot be left to linger.
“In my view this proposal will be catastrophic for the environment, for animal welfare and for those who live in the surrounding areas.
“I will continue to actively object to this application and type of farming on behalf of the residents I represent. This is not farming, this is industrialisation.”
Norfolk has been dubbed the “mega-farm” capital of the UK. While the UK has seen a 20% increase in mega-farms since 2016.
The 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.
The effect of the proposed site’s impact on the climate has raised concerns as well as legal challenges due to the unknown quantity of carbon emissions, the water quality degradation. Other worries are that the proposed plant would be placed near groundwater sources and the rare chalk streams in the area.
Jermy previously wrote to the Environmental Agency last year to also highlight the issues saying that it would be “unnecessary and damaging pollution which will adversely affect people and biodiversity”.
