As a final decision nears over whether Midlands Pig Producers will be allowed to go ahead with plans to build a US-style mega-farm near Foston Hall Prison in Derbyshire, the county council responsible for delivering the verdict has been warned that the unit could carry inherent health risks.

Derbyshire County Council, which has assumed responsibility for the plans, has heard that the proposals could pose serious health risks to those living and working nearby and that fumes from the farm could amount to a breach of their human rights.

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And reminded that, "Planning authorities … have an obligation under the Human Rights Act 1998 to consider the effects of their decision on the human rights of affected third parties. The right to private and family life prevents not just physical incursions into the home or residence, but also interference from things such as noise, smell, emissions."

The Foston plans’ opponents in the Soil Association, Friends of the Earth, Pig Business and Foston Community Forum have alleged in a letter to the council that emissions from the farm could breach the rights of prisoners and Foston Hall Prison, as well as prison staff and local residents. The groups said they have had legal counsel that green-lighting the plans could put people at risk form "multi-drug resistant organisms".

Peter Melchett, policy director of the Soil Association, commented on the warning letter, "The objections to the pig factory at Foston are mounting all the time, because of the growing weight of new scientific evidence of real risks to the health of local people, and to the staff and inmates of the prison right next door to the proposed site. Now it seems that the legal rights of local people may also be infringed by the proposed development."

MPP has applied for permission to build a unit housing 25,000 pigs on a greenfield site. Late last year, South Derbyshire District Councillors registered their objection to the proposals. The company, which has already withdrawn and resubmitted its proposals, claims the technologically advanced mega-farm will take animal health and welfare seriously and will minimise odours and emissions.

In November, the Health Protection Agency, which was added to Derbyshire County Council’s list of consultees following complaints regarding the risk to human health, expressed concerns over air pollution from the site. An HPA letter to the council read, “recent research has found that those living up to 150m downwind of an intensive swine farming installation could be at risk of adverse human health effects associated with exposure to multi- drug resistant organisms.”

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