Protest against a large-scale pig farm proposed for Foston in Derbyshire is mounting. The opposition campaign has secured a number of celebrity spokespeople in recent weeks although public consultation has officially ended.

The public consultation saw over 11,000 representations made so far, of which the overwhelming majority are said to be objections, as well as an objection from the Environment Agency, made in May which recommended plans be rejected as they do not contain “adequate information to demonstrate that the risks posed to groundwater can be satisfactorily managed."

Midlands Pig Producers (MPP) resubmitted the Plans for the site in the spring; if successful, it would house 2,500 sows and recycle waste through an on-site biogas plant. An online petition against the controversial plans has registered over 6,500 signatures.

Although MPP have stressed that the development will be state of the art and take environmental and animal welfare issues seriously, most of the objections made are over concerns relating to risk to human health from superbugs and animal welfare issues, as well as opening the UK to US-style factory farms, noise and smell pollution and extra strain on infrastructure, as 1,000 pigs a day would be transported for slaughter. A decision on the plans was expected on 20th July, but is now unlikely to be made before September.

The National Pig Association (NPA) has hit back at protestors’ claims, saying that it is not possible to draw parallels between the US-style farms and the proposed MPP farm, as, the association claims, UK farms would provide better welfare than overseas competitors.

Nevertheless, the campaign against the plans, which has support from the Soil Association and World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), says that if the mega-farm is given a green light it could drive hundreds of UK farmers out of business.