Megafarms have no place in our growth plan
4 min read
The rejection of a megafarm in my constituency is a watershed moment. We want growth, but industrial farming is not the answer.
Yesterday, in what could be a watershed moment in the British farming industry in this country, King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council’s planning committee voted against the planning application for the proposed megafarm in my constituency.
The ‘megafarm’ in South West Norfolk had planned to house 14,000 pigs and 870,000 hens.
If it had been approved, this would be one of the largest megafarms in Europe.
The issue rose to prominence last year when former prime minister and then MP for the area, Liz Truss, said: “I would be very happy to live next to a pig farm." Since then, the proposal has seen a staggering 15,000 objections filed against it.
Where I am from, farming is in our DNA, and I understand the need for food security. But megafarms are not the solution. As one local farmer said to me: “This is not farming, it is industrialisation."
Norfolk has already been dubbed the “megafarm capital of Europe”, with statistics from Compassion in World Farming showing there are now 122 megafarms in the county and 25,748,309 factory-farmed animals.
If approved, this application would have set a dangerous new precedent, not just in terms of its size, but also in its inability to comply with planning and environmental regulations.
A further Compassion in World Farming study showed there has been a 20 per cent increase in such intensive farming in the UK over a seven-year period.
The operation of the site would have resulted in large amounts of ammonia being released into the atmosphere — a key concern for the natural environment, particularly the rare and sensitive plant life of the Brecks, which is of international importance. This proposal needs a permit from the Environment Agency because of the serious risk of pollution.
That in itself raises questions because a recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request showed that industrial-scale farms in East Anglia have violated environmental standards more than 700 times in the last seven years. This means between 2017 and 2024, there were at least two breaches per week, or approximately ten per month.
Intensive livestock farming also risks creating future pandemics and outbreaks of zoonotic diseases such as avian influenza (bird flu), which has cost the UK economy £50m with outbreaks over the past years, with a 50 per cent increase over the past year. A key study by The University of Exeter found that the effects of intensifying agriculture “are at best uncertain and at worst may contribute to EID (emerging infectious disease) risk. Once social, economic and political factors are taken into account, the pandemic risk posed by intensive farming is concerning".
Labour is proudly the party of animal welfare. Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the Animal Welfare Act becoming law — groundbreaking legislation brought in by the last Labour government. In last year's manifesto, we promised to go further. We outlined that we would improve animal welfare and champion British farming whilst protecting the environment. A rise in megafarms would go against those very commitments.
The UK has some of the highest animal welfare and food standards in the world, and the majority of voters support such measures. According to a 2023 Focaldata poll for Humane World for Animals, nearly one in ten people ranked animal welfare as one of the top three policies and 63 per cent of respondents said the government should bring in legislation to phase out intensive farming to protect the environment and animals.
Let me be very clear, this is not about being a rural NIMBY or being a “blocker”. I fully support this government’s growth agenda, ensuring that we further prosperity.
Rural communities have the opportunity to grow, but that growth must be the right growth, sustainable and environmentally friendly. The Prime Minister and the Chancellor’s efforts to kick-start the economy are the right policies we need to further economic prosperity.
But megafarms threaten our communities' way of life, whether that be through noise, land, air, or water pollution. At the same time, they do not create many jobs to support the local economy.
Megafarms and increasing intensive farming are not the kind of farming this country wants or needs. This decision should be seen as a watershed moment.
Terry Jermy is the Labour MP for South West Norfolk.
