A POULTRY unit in Radnorshire is set to be rebuilt to accommodate more than 20,000 extra chickens.
International food production firm Cargill Meats Europe’s Gaufron Farm at Howey, near Llandrindod Wells, already houses 33,000 egg-laying birds in five sheds. It has submitted a planning application to Powys council to knock down the existing buildings, that are more than 40 years old, and replace them with two larger poultry units.
The site would house broiler breeder chickens and would hold up to 56,000 per cycle. Broilers are chickens reared for the dinner table.
Chickens would be delivered to the site as day-old chicks and reared for 18 weeks within the buildings, before going onto laying sites.
The buildings will be 97.5 metres in length and 33m wide and 7.7m to the ridge.
Six feed bins will be also placed in pairs at the southern end of each of the steel-framed buildings which will be coloured juniper green to minimise their visual impact.
The company says the site will help the UK become self-sufficient in egg and meat production and reduce the need to import poultry products as well as help reduce transport related pollution.
An environmental impact assessment has also been submitted to Powys council and it is also proposed to close a small subsidiary badger sett, one of two on the site, as part of the application. Natural Resources Wales will have to give a licence to close the badger sett, though the larger sett will remain.
Existing access to the site and the entrance are of sufficient standard and don’t need to be upgraded.