More than 26,000 of you took action last month to ask Wychavon District Council to refuse planning permission for a cruel new chicken factory farm in Worcestershire. And the council listened!
Council members voted unanimously against the proposal to build an intensive broiler chicken unit in the village of Upton Snodsbury, which would have confined 160,000 birds at a time to filthy, crowded sheds. Applause actually broke out in the council chamber when this excellent decision was announced.
This is great news both for the local community – which would have had to put up with increased noise, traffic, smells and possible environmental damage – and for chickens. Birds raised for meat in this type of intensive system are forced to spend their lives in sheds that stink of ammonia with tens of thousands of other birds, dosed with antibiotics to fight disease and bred to grow so large so fast that many of them become crippled under their own weight and experience organ failure. They are killed for their flesh at 42 days old, when they reach “slaughter weight”.
Thank you to everyone who was a part of this victory for animals!
However, we know from experience that this may not be the end of this unethical proposal. It’s possible that the applicant may go to the Planning Inspectorate to appeal the council’s decision. In the past, the Planning Inspectorate has disregarded the voices of local people as well as concern for animals and overturned democratic decisions on factory farming applications.
If that happens, we hope you’ll stand with us again to speak out for chickens and make our voices heard.
