Chicken row will go up before beak

Jan 5 2009 by Brian Daniel, The Journal

A ROW over a chicken farm is going all the way to the High Court. Dominic and Alice Elsworth, of Whistlebare Farm, Bowsden, near Berwick in Northumberland, have started judicial review proceedings after councillors consented to a free-range unit of up to 16,000 birds on neighbouring land.

Berwick Borough Council approved the application from farmers Jayne and Jonathan Watson, of Bowsden Moor, last October.

The Elsworths, who have an organic pig farm just across a burn bordering the land, had said the new chicken farm increased the likelihood of salmonella entering the human food chain by passing to their pigs.

After the decision, she said the couple were taking legal advice.

And last night she confirmed they had begun judicial review proceedings, having been advised by a barrister they had a very strong case.

The matter will go before a high court judge, who will rule on whether or not the planning process was correctly followed.

If the judge rules the procedure was incorrect, the planning approval will be quashed and the determination process will start again.

Mrs Elsworth, who has lived at Whistlebare since 2004, said: “Judicial review is a long shot at the best of times and it is very expensive and counsel’s view was that we had a very strong case.

“If a council loses a judicial review, it means they have been either inept or have been serving their own purposes and all our costs will then be picked up by the taxpayer, so it is actually very expensive to the general public.

“We would not be going ahead unless we thought there was a very high chance of us winning.”

Berwick Borough Council was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Last night, Mrs Watson said the couple had been notified of the judicial review, in which they are classed as an affected party.

She said: “From our point of view, we were not in any doubt that they would look to seek remedy through that avenue. We will just wait and see what the outcome is.” Mrs Watson said the proceedings did not necessarily stop them starting work on the chicken unit, but to do so would be “at our peril”.

She said: “It is not practical to be starting ground works at this time of year anyway.”

Councillors voted unanimously to approve the Watsons’ application, in line with their officer’s recommendation.

At the time, the Watsons dismissed their neighbours’ salmonella fears, saying all their birds would be vaccinated and tested and that they had chosen the best possible site.