Pickles urged to reject beagle farm’s expansion opposed by tens of thousands

The National Anti-Vivisection Society is among groups opposed to plans at the facility in the coastal village of Grimston in Holderness from where dogs would be bred and delivered to laboratories across the UK.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles will have the final say on whether the facility run by B&K Universal will go ahead after an appeal by Yorkshire Evergreen against the plans’ rejection by East Riding councillors last year.

Tens of thousands of people, including a number of celebrities, have voiced opposition to 
the plans for the site, which 
has been used for nearly half a century as an animal research facility.

Jan Creamer, president of the National Anti-Vivisection Society, said: “This beagle breeding farm is unwanted and unnecessary. The public are deeply opposed to the horrific suffering these 
dogs will endure if the plans go ahead, and science is moving away from these crude 
tests which hinder medical progress.”

The project’s developers say the council failed to take into account the latest plans were far smaller in scale and acted against “the professional advice of its planning and conservation officers”.

A spokesman for B&K said surveys showed 85 per cent of the public accepted the need for animals in medical research and claimed opponents of the scheme were using “flawed pseudoscience”.

Under the plans, it was proposed to breed all animals on the farm instead of flying dogs into the UK for research.

He added: “And if its appeal is turned down, B&K will almost certainly carry on its work as it is now – continuing to fly 
dogs in – although it may relocate its hub to another country with the loss of all jobs in Grimston and a number in suppliers’ operations.”