Planning permission for intensive poultry farm in Shropshire overturned in High Court

The unit, located in the River Severn catchment area, was set to house around 200,000 chickens and had been granted planning permission by Shropshire Council in May 2024.

But now, a High Court ruling following a judicial review challenge by Dr Caffyn, whose case was supported by campaign group River Action, has quashed the decision. It has been hailed as a major victory for river campaigners opposing the expansion of industrial farming. 

In her judicial review, Dr Caffyn argued that the effects of spreading manure and of emissions from burning biomass causes river and air pollution, and that this had not been taken into account by Shropshire Council when considering the planning application for the development.  

The legal challenge opposing the poultry unit was launched in July 2024 and given the go-ahead on two grounds in October 2024, with two more grounds added in February 2025.  

Following an April 2025 High Court hearing, judges ruled in Dr Caffyn’s favour on two important grounds.  

They ruled that there was failure to assess the cumulative impacts of the development alongside other already consented IPUs (including increases to chicken numbers consented through environmental permits instead of planning permissions) and a failure to properly assess the downstream impacts of the development, in particular the spreading of digestate on land, which leaches into rivers.  

The proposed poultry unit would have included four poultry buildings each more than 100 metres long, along with a biomass store and boilers. The development would also have been located close to an existing poultry site, which itself is thought to contain around half a million birds. 

Permission for the development was initially refused after concerns were raised over pollution damage to nearby protected sites, but was then granted in May 2024 after developer LJ Cooke & Son proposed exporting manure for disposal at a third-party site. 

Dr Alison Caffyn said: 

“There are nearly 65 chickens for every person in Shropshire and yet the council still thought we needed more. This ruling proves what we’ve said all along: the planning system has been putting our rivers at risk. This case is a win for communities across the UK who are standing up to the environmental degradation caused by industrial factory farming.”  

Leigh Day partner Ricardo Gama, who represents Dr Caffyn, said:  

“River Action and our client are obviously delighted about this result. They and others have done a huge amount of painstaking work reviewing technical documents to bring to light the flaws in this planning application. Dr Caffyn and River Action say that industrial agriculture has flown under the radar for too long, and it’s only through the tireless work of them and others that people are waking up to its massive environmental impacts. A High Court judge has found that Shropshire Council failed to properly assess those impacts, particularly given their legal obligation to look at the impacts in the round alongside the huge number of other intensive poultry units in the Severn catchment. River Action hopes that this will serve as an example for other councils looking at similar applications.” 

River Action head of legal Emma Dearnaley said: 

“This ruling is a wake-up call. For too long, councils like Shropshire have been rubber-stamping massive poultry units without any real understanding of the environmental consequences. There are too many chickens in protected river catchments like the Severn and our rivers are choking on chicken muck. Today, the court made clear: the irresponsible and unsustainable spread of factory farming ends now.” 

Shopshire County Council has not applied for permission to appeal the High Court ruling. 

Separately, Leigh Day represents almost 3,500 individuals in the Wye catchment who argue in a legal claim against Avara Food Group that intensive chicken production has caused pollution to the Rivers Wye, Lugg and Usk.