AN ANGLING group has vowed to launch a legal challenge against Powys County Council over a chicken farm extension.

Earlier this month, the council’s planning committee voted in favour of approving a planning application by the Davies family to double the number of broiler chickens at Wernhalog Farm, Llanfaredd near Builth Wells to 180,000.

There were concerns expressed at the meeting that dirty water run-off from the site could pollute the River Wye, which is two kilometres from the farm.

Fish Legal believes that the decision to approve the application is “unlawful” and should be “quashed”, and has now written to the council saying it will take legal action to overturn the decision.

Fish Legal said: “In particular, it highlights a failure by the council to properly consider what will happen to tonnes of additional poultry manure that will be spread as digestate on land in the River Wye catchment.”

The group says the council has 14 days to respond.

A spokesman for Powys County Council said: “The council can confirm that it has received a letter from Fish Legal in relation to planning permission 21/1381/FUL (Wernhalog Farm) which it is considering and will respond to in due course.”

Ann Weedy, operations manager Mid Wales at Natural Resources Wales said: “NRW is doing everything we can within the resources and legal powers that we have at our disposal to improve water quality and to tackling all forms of pollution through consistent and clear regulation.

“We have made great strides in recent years working with others to tackle the issues that impact on our river environment. Whilst we have seen continued investment in water quality leading to significant improvements, there remain some significant issues and we are committed to working together with land managers, developers, water companies, anglers, regulatory partners, conservationists and Welsh Government to build on the progress made.”

At the recent planning meeting where the application was decided, what will happen to the manure created by the extra chickens was discussed.

Agent Ian Pick explained that the manure and dirty water would all be taken away to an Anaerobic Digester (AD) to be processed.

He stressed that: “nothing is stored or spread on the farm.”

Mr Pick said: “The site is completely sealed, there is no prospect of this development causing any run-off into the nearby brook, the design prevents it.”

Fish Legal was previously known as the Anglers’ Conservation Association, which was founded in 1948 to protect all inland and coastal waters in the United Kingdom from pollution and other environmental damage.