John Bowler Ltd advertise themselves as "the largest producers of free range eggs" and yet they have submitted a planning application to build a huge broiler hen production plant in Little Hay, Staffordshire which will be filled with 270,000 chickens. Thats right, nearly THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND BIRDS across only 6 sheds, thats 45,000 per shed. This is outrgageous for so many reasons, one of these being that they freely promote their free range eggs but they forget to tell their customers how they are now starting to branch into mass meat production by broiler hens which live only 37 days and never see the sun. You wouldn't know this from their website though.

And its not just an animal welfare issue, this is destroying a key habitat area which seems to have gone completely unnoted, it will be in the middle of a woodland which is also right next to a main drinking water pump from which water is drawn from, surely this presents a sanitary issue at the very least? This will be built down a quiet & peaceful country lane, usually enjoyed for its natural beauty by local residents and visitors, but now this foul smelling, ammonia producing factory farm will be in its place. As it is completely unmanned, it will also form a massive fire hazard, as well as attracting unnecessary HGV traffic with hundreds of giant lorries sharing the usually peaceful road - ".....resulting in a total of 608 vehicles/1216 movements" every year. Not to mention the danger this will cause at an already dangerous A38 juntion (quote from their transport statement) "Although there have been a number of accidents at or in the vicinity of the A38(T)/Little Hay Lane junction". As a result they will have to widen the road - yet again more unnecessary disruption to local residents as well as even more habitat loss. And anyway, if its such a great idea, why so keen to hide it - "The site benefits from screening from existing woodland and existing vegetative screening".

They think they can get away with it because its hidden behind a woodland area, and by re-submitting the planning app right before Christmas they think everyone will be too busy - NO CHANCE, WE HAVE UNTIL FEBRUARY 10TH 2015 to stop this from happening and I can at least try with your support behind me. I for one do not want my local area destroyed by a giant factory farm posing a raod safety threat to residents, and I do not want my area associated with supporting such a vile & outdated farming practice. The original deadline for oppositions was Christmas Day 2013. All those that signed before this point had their names hand delivered to the council. However, the official decision will not be made until FEBRUARY 10TH 2015 (decision yet to be made, so keep those names coming!) I will ensure the second batch of names is given to the council closer to this time to ensure our voices are heard once again. 

I own chickens, we have rescued battery hens ourselves and they are amazing animals. People do not realise the damage this will do and the message this will send if we let this happen, so please, please help me stop this. Even if this is not near your home, the message is still the same, we should not be treating animals this way for our own food production; it is is WRONG. We should not be allowing increased traffic on an already dangerous turning point from the A38 and over 600 HGV lorries to travel through there every year. John Bowler should maintain their free range egg production, not move into this terrible industry. John bowler run "free range open days" so everyone can see how great they are, I haven't seen their giant broiler house on that open day list. 

Thank you for reading this and thank you for your time, please help me stop this from happening. Let's send a clear message - we don't want this here, but it shouldn't be happening anywhere at all.

Katie 

 

p.s quote from their planning application:

"The site benefits from screening from existing woodland and existing vegetative screening in  the form of mature hedgerows, woodland and boundary tree planting, together  with screening from the natural topography of the land."

"The proposed poultry unit will produce standard birds, based on a 37day 

growing cycle, with 7 days at the end of each cycle for cleanout and 

preparation of the buildings for the incoming flock. The unit will operate with 

8 flocks per annum. 

Each proposed poultry unit  will house 45,000 broiler chickens with 270,000 broilers in total over the 6 sheds.

The chicks are placed within the building as day olds and reared within the 

building for 37 days. Approximately 30% of the birds are removed at day 33 

with the remainder removed at day 37"

 

 "Dead birds are collected from the within the buildings on adaily basis. Dead 

birds are stored within a sealed carcass bin and collected by a licensed fallen 

stock operator"

 

 

https://planning.lichfielddc.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=MW5AICJEA2000​

 Image rights: http://planetoftheanimals.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-horrors-of-broiler-chicken-factory.html