Danish dairy giant Arla has been given the green light to go ahead with plans to build what it claims is the World’s largest zero-carbon dairy. The £150 million dairy will create an estimated 700 jobs and will be able to process and package up to 1.3 billion litres of fresh milk a year.

The dairy will be built near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire after Aylesbury Vale District Council's planning authority unanimously approved the plans at the end of last week. Peter Lauritzen, head of Arla Foods UK, said, "This will be a state-of-the-art dairy designed to help Arla achieve its growth ambitions in the UK.”

Arla claims the dairy will not send any waste to landfill and will be powered by renewable energy sources.

However, some local people have expressed concern that the dairy will overburden the infrastructure in the area and risk environmental damage. An Arla spokesperson said on Friday that, in addition to the environmental measures taken at the dairy, the Danish cooperative had planned “a multi million pound package of mitigation measures to effectively reduce or remove the effect of bringing the dairy to the site.”

Arla said it aims to have the dairy completed and operational by the end of next year.