A new unit will house an extra 64,000 birds
Plans to expand an East Yorkshire egg farm have been approved by East Riding Council. The planning application sought to increase the number of hens from 96,000 to 160,000.
North Farm in Thorpe le Street currently houses 96,000 laying hens. However, a planning application submitted to the council in June set out Sellmor Farming Ltd’s intention to expand their egg operation by erecting a unit capable of housing a further 64,000 hens nearby.
The new site, which will take their total capacity up to 160,000 birds, is to be erected slightly North of the current site. Both their existing farm and the new site house of free-range birds.
When the planning application was submitted to the council, documents stated: “The applicants have received support from their egg production contractor and have a preliminary contract agreement in place for the expansion, subject to planning approval.” The increase in capacity was also explained within the documents in relation to a general increase in demand for specifically free-range eggs across the UK.
It is stated in the documents: “To keep pace with this demand, producers and contractors alike must scale up their operations. The urgent necessity for this expansion has resulted in increasingly more lucrative contracts being offered to producers. All major supermarkets in the UK have committed to cease selling cage produced eggs by the end of 2025 and replace all of these eggs with the higher welfare free range eggs.”
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Plans add: “The introduction of the free-range egg production unit represents an investment by the applicants of approximately £3.6m in groundworks, buildings and equipment and will create an additional 2. full-time jobs on the farm.”
The approved application sought permission for the erection of a unit to house 64,000 hens, as well as an egg packing and storage facility. Feed silos and hardstanding areas for parking and turning of vehicles were also included in the application.
The plans were approved by the council on Monday October 27. Work on the development must now begin within three years otherwise the planning permission will expire.
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