Agenda and draft minutes

RESOLVED:   That Councillor Mrs V Spikings be appointed as Vice-Chair for the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence and to note any substitutions.

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors Anota, Barclay, Blunt, Parish, Tyler and Councillor de Whalley (Cllr Nash sub).

The Chair thanked the sub for attending the meeting.

Please indicate if there are any interests which should be declared.  A declaration of an interest should indicate the nature of the interest (if not already declared on the Register of Interests) and the agenda item to which it relates.  If a disclosable pecuniary interest is declared, the Member should withdraw from the room whilst the matter is discussed.

These declarations apply to all Members present, whether the Member is part of the meeting, attending to speak as a local Member on an item or simply observing the meeting from the public seating area.

Councillor appointed representatives on the Internal Drainage Boards are noted.

The following declarations of interest were declared:

Councillor Storey declared that in 2020, his business sold some straw to Wayland Farms Piggery Units which they paid for.  He was also granted some sporting rights over part of their land at the time and also had some sporting rights on the land next door (not the application site).  He had taken legal advice to see if he could participate and vote in the meeting, which was agreed.  He stated that he was non-biased.

Councillor Mrs Spikings explained that her family used to have a butcher’s shop, some years ago, but had not had any dealings with the applicant.  She had not had any financial dealings and was not biased or pre-determined.  She had an open mind and would listen to all of the debate.

To consider any business, which by reason of special circumstances, the Chair proposes to accept, under Section 100(b)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act, 1972.

There was none.

Members wishing to speak pursuant to Standing Order 34 should inform the Chairman of their intention to do so and on what items they wish to be heard before a decision on that item is taken.

Councillor Ryves.

To receive any Chair’s correspondence.

The Chair reported that any correspondence received had been read and passed to the appropriate officer.

To receive the Schedule of Late Correspondence received since the publication of the agenda.

A copy of the late correspondence received after the publication of the agenda, which had been previously circulated, was received. A copy of the agenda would be held for public inspection with a list of background papers.

The Committee is asked to consider and determine the attached Schedules of Planning Applications submitted by the Assistant Director.

The Committee considered schedules of applications for planning permission submitted by the Assistant Director for Planning and Environment (copies of the schedules were published with the agenda). Any changes to the schedules will be recorded in the minutes.

RESOLVED: That the application be determined, as set out at (i) – (vi) below, where appropriate, to the conditions and reasons or grounds of refusal, set out in the schedules signed by the Chair.

(i)              22/00860/FM

Feltwell / Methwold:  Feltwell Farm, Lodge Road:  Demolition of existing buildings and construction of new buildings in connection with pig finishing provision and other associated works:  Wayland Farms Ltd

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Please note that both items were considered together but the vote was taken separately.

The Senior Planner introduced the report and explained that the application sought planning consent for the demolition of 22 existing buildings and construction of 14 modern pig rearing units to house 14,000 pigs on a straw based system at Feltwell Farm.

The total site area was approximately 12.9ha.  The site was located to the south of the village of Methwold, and north of the village of Feltwell, in the open countryside.  The site currently consisted of a series of redundant agricultural sheds, within a wider setting of agricultural land interspersed with tree belts.  To the east of the site was Warren Energy an operational Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant at Methwold Farm, to the south were residential dwellings.

The site was part of a larger intensive pig farming facility (known as Methwold Farm Pig Unit) which was spread over three sites.  The application site included a number of buildings which currently housed pigs.  However, due to the limitations with some of the buildings, only approximately 4,500 pigs were housed at Feltwell farm (the application site) and another 3,000 at Airfield Farm outside of the site boundary to the west.

Access to the site would be via the B1112, heading north on to Warren Road and then turning west onto a private road which would then lead to the site.  On leaving the site, vehicles would leave via a new upgraded private road which ran to the south of the existing tree belt, and then going on to an existing private road which ran north to south.  The private road would then exit onto the B1112 (west of Warren Road).

Alongside the application, the applicant had submitted an application for ‘Demolition of existing poultry sheds, construction of 20 new poultry sheds, 4 workers dwellings and associated infrastructure ref: 22/00866/FM.  The application was for land to the east of the application site.  The two sites would operate in conjunction utilising the same access routes.  They were within the ownership of the one owner / operator.

The applications had been submitted alongside each other to enable a collective assessment of the two schemes.  A joint Environmental Statement had been submitted for the two applications.  Likewise, much of the supporting documentation  ...  view the full minutes text for item PC122: