Salmonella excuses delay planning application

A farming family from Berwick has finally won the go-ahead for a free range egg unit following a bitter eight month planning battle.

Jonathan Watson, who farms in partnership with his uncle, Brian Redhead, had to put plans for the unit on hold following a series of objections by a neighbouring farmer.

The neighbour claimed that putting poultry so close to his 800 pigs would increase the potential for a salmonella outbreak. The irony of his claim is that the neighbour has chickens on his own farm His objections, however, have seriously delayed plans for the unit and Jonathan is now having to reconsider whether the unit would still be viable in the current financial climate.

"It is unlikely we would be able to start on ground works this year now anyway; it would not be possible until next year," said Jonathan’s wife, Jayne, who took on much of the responsibility for dealing with the planning application. "What we are going to have to do is go back to the financial drawing board. We will have to look at the finances again and ensure that it will still be viable," she said.

The neighbour says he is taking legal advice and planning officers have warned the Watsons of the possibility of the decision being overturned on appeal, even though the local planning committee approved their proposals following a lengthy consultation process and a visit to the site of the proposed unit.

Jonathan Watson and Brian Redhead farm 300 acres of land at Bowsden Moor, which is eight miles south of Berwick upon Tweed. Their pedigree livestock includes Limousin and Belgian Blue cattle and Texel and Lleyn sheep. Their decision to invest in a free range egg unit was a response to changes in the Single Farm Payment.


"We were an intensive unit on bull beef, so as we moved away from the headage payment we needed to look for some alternative source of income," said Jayne. "We looked at various options. We decided that free range eggs had the ability to provide a return for us and it was something that would fit in with our system."

However, when their proposal for a unit with 16,000 hens was submitted to Berwick Borough Council it quickly attracted fierce opposition from Dominic and Alice Elsworth, who live at neighbouring Whistlebare Farm. They said that keeping pigs and poultry in close proximity increased the potential for a salmonella outbreak. They said Defra said poultry farms should be sited as far as possible from livestock enterprises. Ironically, the Elsworths openly advertise on their web site the fact that they keep pure Maran, Light Sussex and Welsummer chickens on their farm along with their pedigree Large Black pigs and pedigree Aberdeen Angus cattle. They also complained to the council that ammonia generated by the Watsons’ poultry unit would kill trees and crops and pollute nearby Berrington Burn, which runs into the Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve.

Jayne Watson said that they had consulted fully with all interested organisations, including the Environment Agency and Natural England. "Everyone was entirely happy with it and there was unanimous support at the planning committee meeting in the end. The planning officer has gone to great lengths to look into all the objections. He has had to deal with a barrage of previous cases and various evidence as they tried to show that the unit would de damaging to the environment and health. The planning officer has been in a very difficult position. Every time new documents and cases were sent to him he has had to go through them. In the end we asked him just to put the case to the committee and let it decide. They have decided in our favour."

As well as the Environment Agency and Natural England, planners sought the views of a Defra veterinary advisor and an expert from the School of Agriculture at Newcastle University. Neither the Environment Agency nor Natural England opposed the plan, although they asked for a number of conditions to be imposed.

These were that a suitable fence should be erected to keep hens away from the burn, that suitable washing and cleaning operations should be followed and that surface water drainage should be routed through a wetland area to help remove sediment and nutrients before it was discharged into the burn.

Jayne Watson said it was more important than ever for British farmers to produce first class food, minimising food miles and efficiently producing a product that was in demand amongst British consumers. She said the eggs would be produced under the Lion quality mark, upholding high standards of disease prevention, hygiene and biosecurity.