I should be interested to know whether or not the proximity of intensive farms is taken into consideration when solicitors conduct their searches on behalf of prospective house buyers. Many people living near to intensive pig and poultry units are distressed by persistent swarms of flies invading their houses, and by unpleasant smells.

I do not refer to normal rural smells, but to the highly unpleasant stench associated with animals kept in large numbers, and resulting from the presence of faeces building up during the life cycle of broiler chickens, ducks and turkeys and from decomposing carcasses, some of which are only removed when units are cleared out before depopulation. Broiler chicken units may contain around 50,000 birds in each shed and 20,000 turkeys or ducks in one shed is not unusual. Caged hens may number 100,000 per shed. Most farms house several sheds, so these numbers are multiplied, with predictable results.


In these controlled environments, airborne contamination and odours are extracted via fans, which spread pollution to the surrounding area.


The nature of nearby farms, and of possible planning permission for future farm units, should be checked out as carefully as proposed roads, etc, so that buyers are protected from the possibility of buying a property that may turn out to be far from a rural idyll, and also hard to re-sell.


Clare Druce, Farm Animal Welfare Network, Holmfirth