Environmental Impact Assessment for Production Pig Units in Breckland

Environmental Impact Assessment for Production Pig Units in Breckland

The site was formerly utilised as a cattle farm and was proposed for redevelopment to a production pig farm with the capacity for a maximum of 7,000 production pigs across seven modern barns. The proposal was determined to be a Schedule 1 development in the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2011 and was therefore necessary for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be undertaken.

The site is located in a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone, Breckland Environmentally Sensitive Area and in close proximity to a number of statutory designations including Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Protection Area (SPA). The site is also located within Flood Zone 1 and 2.

The scope of the Environmental Statement (ES) was determined by Breckland Council and key areas of consideration to be included were

  • Ecology
  • Surface Water Drainage, Flood Risk & Water Quality
  • Ammonia & Odour Emissions
  • Noise
  • Landscape & Cultural Heritage
  • Contaminated Land
  • Traffic

The ES included a review of the cumulative impacts and concluded that, when the proposed mitigation was taken into account, no significant negative effects were identified. The EIA application was granted planning permission within 18 weeks of submission and received only 13 planning conditions.

Following the success of this application, we have been commissioned by the client to undertake similar works for another project requiring an EIA application.

Services Provided

Plandescil Ltd. was instructed to prepare and co-ordinate an Environmental Impact Assessment and planning application. This included using our various departments to undertake a Design and Access Statement, Flood Risk Assessment & Surface Water Drainage Strategy, Contamination Desk Study Report and Traffic Statement. An Environmental Statement was prepared based upon the findings of all of the expert input required to produce this technical document and a Non-Technical Summary of the Environmental Statement accompanied the document.

Plandescil Ltd. was involved in the co-ordination of the planning application which involved pre-application discussions and enquiries with the Local Planning Authority as well as addressing planning conditions and submission of discharge of condition applications. Plandescil Ltd. also prepared a Scoping Opinion Request.