Scientist in protective suit takes water for analysis from polluted river.

Secretary of State

Angela

Rayner

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Dear Secretary of State,

I am writing to you in your capacity as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to urge you to ensure that the revised National Planning Policy Framework supports local communities, the recovery of our rivers and tackling the climate and nature crises.

Agriculture is the number one cause of river pollution in the UK, with factory farm waste directly linked to the ecological crises of major UK water bodies, such as the River Wye and Lough Neagh. Factory farms are the biggest cause of animal cruelty in the UK – where each year, over a billion animals are raised in overcrowded barns, feedlots or cages. Factory farming also has negative implications for climate change, loss of biodiversity, and human health. Increasingly factory farms are overwhelming local communities with their pollution, noise, smell and toxic air, endangering the health and welfare of local people.

The spread of manure from factory farms in England already contributes significantly to every English region being polluted with nitrogen. The situation is so bad in some areas that this pollution must be offset to allow house building to go ahead. For example, a farmer has been paid £1.5 million by Norfolk councils and Anglian Water simply to keep pigs off the land.

The problem is increasing. The latest data released by Compassion in World Farming showed a 20% increase in the number of the largest pig and poultry intensive livestock units across the UK between 2016 and 2023. This means the annual production of nitrogen has increased by 27,000 tonnes since 2016, exacerbating nutrient pollution that is preventing house building in over 70 areas across England.

Your department has a critical role in helping DEFRA to achieve its core priorities to ensure nature's recovery and to clean up Britain's rivers, lakes and seas. The Government can go a long way to delivering on these priorities by building on the recommendations of the Environment Audit Committee’s (EAC) Environmental Change and Food Security paper, November 2023. The EAC recommends that the government should build in a default against granting planning permission for new intensive livestock units through national planning policy. Whilst that report specifically highlighted the need to protect the most polluted catchments if the Government is to genuinely deliver clean waterways it must expand that provision nationwide to avoid other parts of the UK also becoming overwhelmed.

I understand that local authorities struggle to establish the basis on which to reject farms of this type. Therefore, in the new National Planning Policy Framework for England, I urge you to build upon the recommendations of the EAC. In particular by stating that: “There should be a presumption against granting planning permission for new intensive livestock units.” As a minimum, the presumption should apply in all catchments where nitrogen budgets are exceeded.

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Stop the spread of factory farming

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