North Yorkshire plans for huge free-roaming poultry farm with 60,000 chickens

Supporters of free-roaming poultry will appreciate the news that a farm for more than 60,000 chickens has been approved.
Free range chicken. Picture by Steve Riding.Free range chicken. Picture by Steve Riding.
Free range chicken. Picture by Steve Riding.

Broomfield Farm, near Thornton Bridge, has permission to move ahead with plans to to erect a ‘free range egg production unit’ and an access road which will see a maximum of 64,000 birds reared at the property.

Planning documents state that the chicken farm will create two new full-time jobs.

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According to the council documents, hens and their eggs must have a minimum of one hectare for every 2,000 birds to be classified as ‘free range’ and comply with RSPCA Freedom Food requirements.

It means that the Broomfield Farm development will include 32 hectares of external farmland that the chickens will be able to roam across.

Both Harrogate Borough Council and Kirby Hill Parish Council have stated their support for the move, with the former writing that the development was a suitable use of otherwise unoccupied agricultural land.

The proposed building will be of steel frame construction with olive green external cladding to the roof and walls.

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In approving the plans, the borough council said the development would not have an unacceptable impact on the local landscape, residential amenity, archeology or highway safety.

Furthermore, the extension would contribute to the “rural economy” and create additional jobs, with the council finding it fulfills the three planning dimensions of economic, social and environmental impacts.

Lachlan Leeming , Local Democracy Reporting Service