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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Zach Boren

UK looks to relax planning rules for factory farms after industry lobbying

Hens caged in close proximity to each other in an intensive livestock farm
A draft planning policy framework includes measures that could make it easier to approve new intensive livestock developments, including a higher bar for refusing applications on environmental grounds. Photograph: Fahroni/Alamy

Ministers are rewriting planning rules to make it easier to build intensive livestock farms despite concerns about water pollution, air quality and local opposition.

Documents obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act show that proposed changes to the national planning policy framework (NPPF) were discussed by ministers and officials in response to concerns of the country’s leading chicken producers, who have been lobbying on the issue for at least two years.

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