CAMPAIGNERS have spoken of their outrage after a district council gave planning permission for more chicken sheds to go up in north Suffolk.Fourteen protestors against a planning application to increase the number of poultry sheds from two to five in Pixey Green, Stradbroke, attended a meeting at Needham Market this week and were left fuming when Mid Suffolk District Council approved the plans.

CAMPAIGNERS have spoken of their outrage after a district council gave planning permission for more chicken sheds to go up in north Suffolk.

Fourteen protestors against a planning application to increase the number of poultry sheds from two to five in Pixey Green, Stradbroke, attended a meeting at Needham Market this week and were left fuming when Mid Suffolk District Council approved the plans.

The two sheds on the site were put up in 2004 and the farmer, who did not want to be named, applied for four more last year - this was refused for reasons of overdevelopment and the increase heavy vehicle traffic.

His latest proposal saw a 25% reduction in the number of sheds, from four down to three, and includes a landscaping scheme to mask the green, corrugated sheds.

Chris Holloway, a concerned resident, said: “The first two sheds should never have got permission in the first place and now they've given three more the go ahead.”

He said he objected to the poultry sheds because he thought they were a blot on the previously beautiful landscape and created noise, attracted flies and caused more lorries to go up his road.

Fellow resident Jonathan Collins, who spoke at the meeting on behalf of the objectors, said: “It's going to ruin this part of Suffolk because they're in the middle of nowhere, the roads are narrow and lorries are already wearing down the sides of the road, and to have more big vehicles is going to be too much.

“We do support local farmers but they can't put these huge sheds on Greenfield sites.”

The application was recommended for refusal by Stradbroke and Fressingfield parish councils.

Stuart Gemmill, Mid Suffolk councillor for the Stradbroke and Laxfield ward, said: “In my opinion the mistake was made when they put the first buildings up there.

“It's now a question of how many more would affect it. I think they've done their best to alleviate the situation and thought it was inevitable that it was going to go through.”

The farmer said: “They are modern agricultural buildings units which are sustainable, efficient, environmentally friendly and that is the way British agriculture is going forward.

“We've got to adhere to many standards and that comes at a cost. That cost is that we've got to be efficient and responsible and I would say that's what we are and we've taken huge steps to do that.”

A council spokesperson said the sheds complied with their policy for new agricultural building and the have been approved on the condition that the colour blends in with the countryside and the farmer plants fast-growing trees and shrubs to obscure them.

kate.scotter@eadt.co.uk