17/02/11
North Kesteven District Council, District Council Offices,
Kesteven Street, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, NG34 7EF www.n-kesteven.gov.uk
Statement regarding Nocton Dairies’ withdrawal of planning application
A spokesperson for North Kesteven District Council said: “The District Council has this afternoon received confirmation from the agent to Nocton Dairies Ltd that they wish to withdraw application 10/1397/FUL for the construction of a 3,770 cow dairy unit at Nocton Heath, near Lincoln.
The application was due to be determined at a Planning Committee on 8th March 2011, and has been the subject of extensive and unprecedented levels of interest from local residents, and other interested third parties both nationally and globally.
On the basis of District Council Officers’ ongoing review of the application, and objections raised by technical consultees, Officers were minded to recommend to Members to refuse the planning application on six grounds, subject to the outcome of a Call-In referral to the Government Office.
Those suggested reasons for refusal related to:
- The failure of the applicant to fully assess alternative development sites which presented fewer environmental risks.
- The unacceptable and significant risk to groundwater quality, including the nearby public water supply.
- Significant uncertainties regarding the impacts and control of odour from the operation of the dairy, and associated land spreading, and its effects on residential amenity.
- Insufficient detail regarding the frequency, volume and duration of operational noise, including from animals, and its effects on residential amenity.
- Probable negative and adverse impacts to Bardney Limewoods Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a series of Local Wildlife Sites from increased ammonia and nitrogen deposition.
- Insufficient justification for the construction of on-site agricultural workers houses.
-ENDS-
NB: I telephoned North Kesteven District Council yesterday afternoon, to check if it was OK for me to reproduce the text of their formal press release dated 17th February 2011.
Press Release
Compassion in World Farming celebrates the 'Cows Belong In Fields' campaign success
Nocton Dairies has today (16th February) withdrawn their controversial plans for a 'mega-dairy' in Nocton, Lincolnshire.
Compassion in World Farming, the world's leading farm animal welfare charity has campaigned vigorously against these plans.
Today is a good day in the battle against the unwanted and unwarranted industrialisation of the British Dairy industry - for which there was little appetite amongst the public, the local Nocton residents and the government appointed Environment Agency.
However - the campaign continues against the arguments for the industrialisation of dairy farming. Despite the overwhelming evidence against it, some, including Nocton Dairies are still advocating unsustainable and inhumane systems where huge numbers of cows are kept indoors for most of their lives for most of their lives.
This way of thinking about the UK Dairy industry is dangerous to the future livelihoods of dairy farmers, the environment and the welfare of the animals. It is not as they suggest a more sustainable model upon which to raise cows for milk - when the reality is that keeping and feeding cows on grass is a much better and more sustainable use of resources.
In addition to this, scientific evidence shows that cows who have access to pasture have better lives with fewer health problems than those who are kept indoors for the majority of the year.
Pat Thomas, Nocton Campaign Manager for Compassion in World Farming, said:
"This is a real victory for those of us who believe that cows belong in fields. Although Nocton Dairies have always tried to spin their plans for the UK's first mega-dairy as 'ambitious' and 'visionary', the submitted plans showed that they had not addressed some of the mostimportant, and indeed fundamental, environmental and animal welfare flaws in the mega-dairy system. The response was a unequivocal 'No' from campaigners like ourselves, from the Environment Agency and Anglian Water from local residents and indeed people all over the UK. Let's celebrate, but also let's not become complacent. Let's do all we can tomake sure this system of farming is never allowed to operate in the UK."
Peter Stevenson, Chief Policy Advisor, from Compassion in World Farming, said:
"Nocton Dairies criticism of animal welfare organisations is ill-founded. Compassion in World Farming's opposition to the proposed Nocton mega-dairy was based firmly on scientific research that shows that cows need to be given proper access to pasture in the grass-growing season and that cows pushed to very high milk yields (such as those proposed at Nocton) are susceptible to a range of serious health and welfare problems."
In a recent survey 95% of the general public found it unacceptable to keep cows indoors permanently. More than a quarter of MPs have voiced their concerns about the industrialisation of the Dairy Industry already.
Compassion intends to build upon what is an obvious lack of enthusiasm for this unsustainable and damaging industrialisation model and seek a positive dialogue with dairy farmers, the Government and other interested parties.
Peter Stevenson from Compassion in World Farming, continued:
"This is very welcome news for animal welfare and the future of dairy farming. However we recognise that UK dairy farmers still face serious economic pressures. We call on the government to set up a multi-stakeholder forum comprising of the government, the dairy industry, supermarkets, academics and animal welfare NGO's to plan a future for the UK dairy industry which is both economically viable for farmers and that also delivers high standards of animal welfare and avoids further attempts to industrialise the dairy industry.
-ENDS-
Compassion in World Farming (http://www.ciwf.org/) and http://www.cowsbelonginfields.org/
Notes to Editors:
* Compassion in World Farming was founded over 40 years ago in 1967 by a British farmer who became horrified by the development of modern, intensive factory farming. Today, we campaign peacefully to end all cruel factory farming practices. We believe that the biggest cause of animal suffering on the planet deserves a focused, specialised approach - so we only work on farm animal welfare.
Press ReleaseCAFFO’S REACTION TO WITHDRAWAL OF MEGA DAIRY PLANS
Local campaigners have been taking stock after Nocton Dairies pulled their latest application for the first industrial scale dairy in the UK.
Many are celebrating, whilst others are more cautious as the application for the pipeline, described as an ‘integral part’ of the dairy plans; designed to transport digestate from the dairy farm, is still active and there remains considerable uncertainty as to what will now be proposed for the site.
So as we, to quote Nocton Dairies, ‘...watch this space’... we’d like to make two points:
1. Nocton Dairies Ltd are now major landowners in our area. We would like to extend an invitation to them to meet with us and discuss any proposals they may have for the land. In this way we would aim to help them access local knowledge and expertise to ensure their plans would not only be appropriate for the land itself but would also benefit the local community and, in this way, build a relationship which puts the last 16 months behind us.
2. Whilst the failure of this application might be great news for campaigners, it does nothing to address the ongoing problems facing British dairy farmers.
We refute completely the claims by some that these so-called ‘super’ dairies are the way forward; they are not a solution to the problems facing the dairy sector but are a symptom of those problems – with the underlying issue being a farm gate price which is below the cost of production.
So we call for the whole dairy industry, especially the retailers, to ensure that dairy farmers get a fair share of the profits in the milk chain. We would suggest that as a first step, farmers should receive at least 50% of the retail price.
Finally, CAFFO would like to thank the hundreds of local villagers who joined forces to oppose this application, the many thousands of people nationwide who added their voices to ours, the hundreds of politicians who signed Early Day Motions or petitioned ministers on the issues, and all the national NGOs, conservation and pressure groups - especially Compassion in World Farming and WSPA - for their unfailing support and committed campaigning.
-ENDS-
Date: 17 February 2011
For further detail on the economic issues, contact Peter Lundgren on 07751 112303 email peter@peterlundgren.co.uk Website: http://www.peterlundren.co.uk/. For any other information please contact CAFFO on info@caffo.co.uk
Note to editors
CAFFO comprises more than 200 local campaigners from several of the villages adjoining the site of the proposed mega dairy.
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