What can residents do to stop P.C.C. giving Planning Permission for new and extensions to Intensive Poultry Units [IPUs], in the light of the damage they cause to watercourses and the potential for the spread of Avian Flu?
Minutes:
What can residents do to stop P.C.C. giving Planning Permission for new and extensions to Intensive Poultry Units [IPUs], in the light of the damage they cause to watercourses and the potential for the spread of Avian Flu?
Response
The Council is aware of the concerns many residents have, and recognises the environmental impacts associated with Intensive poultry Units (IPU) proposals. These impacts are taken into consideration when determining planning applications when the Council assiduously follows prevailing legislation, regulations, planning policy and guidance that is in place when a decision is taken. Comments made by statutory consultees, including Natural Resources Wales (NRW) are also considered, given their expertise and legal standing in terms of environmental permitting.
Whilst residents may comment on any planning application, their observations and concerns will be weighed, along with other considerations, for “materiality” against the prevailing legal and policy context.
A number of residents have called for such developments to be stopped and for a legislative moratorium to be put in place. This, however, is a matter for Welsh Government’s consideration and is not something that Powys County Council could do unilaterally. I understand that the Welsh Government is requiring all local planning authorities to include a planning policy on intensive livestock units in their replacement Local Development Plans, and this is something that we will look at in relation to any changes to the legal, regulatory, or national policy frameworks.
In the meantime, we have recently received notification from Welsh Government that we should not approve a number of such applications we are holding, until they have made clear their view whether they wish to call them in to determine them themselves. This amounts to some 13 applications being held in abeyance currently, with no planning approvals having been issued by Powys Council for an IPU for approximately 12 months.
Supplementary Question
Dr Williams asked that if the Welsh Government decided not to call in the 13 applications, would the Council consider cumulative environmental impact or would they deal with each application in isolation with the Planning Committee, which he said was biased towards farming, debating and voting on applications individually and the votes recorded?
In response the Cabinet Member for a Connected Powys explained that a local planning authority could not advise residents about how to engineer an outcome as each application has to be considered on its own merits. Those advising the committee had to be independent and objective.
He explained that the Council was already looking at the cumulative impact on the effects of spreading chicken manure on land in the river catchments. The issue of spreading manure was a matter for Natural Resources Wales who provided advice to the Planning Committee and the Committee would be at risk of legal challenge if it ignored that advice.
The Chair of the Planning Taxi Licensing and Rights of Way Committee explained that the Committee was made up from people from different walks of life. The Committee always considered applications with an open mind and were not biased towards farming.
Supporting documents: