Midlands Pig Producers, the company behind deeply controversial plans for a ‘mega-farm’ to house 25,000 pigs in a Derbyshire village has withdrawn its planning application.

Locals joined with animal welfare campaigners to fight the application, which they claimed could cause environmental damage and threaten public health. The application attracted 40,000 objections.

Plans were dealt a further blow late last month when the Environment Agency refused to grant a permit to operate after four years of deliberation.

MPP announced that it had withdrawn its application this week in light of the Agency’s ruling, and a spokesperson said the company is now “Considering the options available.”

The MPP spokesperson continued, “The time taken by the Environment Agency to reach its conclusions has drawn out the entire process way beyond our initial estimates, something totally beyond our control… We appreciate the pressure this has placed on the planning authorities and the lengthy period of uncertainty for local residents, both of which we feel could have been avoided.”

Nevertheless, groups who had opposed the project welcomed the withdrawal as a “Significant victory for local campaigners.”

Tracy Worcester, director of Farms Not Factories, which campaigned against the mega-farm, said “Intensive, indoor animal factories belong to the past. We hope this means people are waking up to the importance of knowing where their food comes from as well as the hidden costs of intensive farming."