CAMPAIGNERS will take Shropshire Council to the High Court over the expansion of industrial chicken farms.

The council approved an application in May for a poultry production unit at Felton Butler, which would house 230,000 birds. 

River Action board member Alison Caffyn will challenge the approval of the unit, which lies within the River Severn catchment area, on the grounds that the council has failed to assess the effects of spreading manure and the emissions from burning biomass. 

Ms Caffyn said that poultry units are so prevalent across the county that there are now nearly 65 chickens for every person in Shropshire.  

River Action say that the River Wye catchment area has been devastated by the failure to enforce anti-pollution regulations and it is determined to prevent similar ecological damage.

Charles Watson, chairman and founder of River Action said: “By recklessly waiving through permission for ever more giant intensive poultry units, Shropshire County Council is effectively pronouncing the death sentence on yet another iconic British river. 

“The construction of these giant unsustainable pollution clusters, with no due consideration being given of their cumulative environmental impact, cannot be allowed to continue.”