17 June 2011

Dominic West, star of crime drama The Wire, has added his support to the campaign opposing a planned 2,500 sow pig farm near Foston, Derbyshire, saying it would spoil the region where he grew up.

Mr West said, "My uncle was a small-scale pig farmer of the sort that would be put out of business by huge factory farms like this. I became interested in this through a film called Pig Business about the vast factory farms in Eastern Europe, so I was quite concerned it was coming here to Derbyshire."

Midlands Pigs Producers (MPP) submitted proposals for the farm, which would have 2,500 sows and 20,000 piglets. The group says it would observe the highest welfare standards and use biogas from the pigs’ waste to produce electricity that would feed into the national grid.  

However, the groups’ plans were dealt a blow in May when the Environment Agency submitted a statement to Derbyshire County Council which warned that the proposal did not address pollution risks from the site.

The EA statement, which recommended planning permission be refused, revealed, "The applicant has not supplied adequate information to demonstrate that the risks posed to groundwater can be satisfactorily managed." A submission by the Environment Agency citing similar shortcomings in Nocton Dairies’ proposal proved to be one of the grounds on which plans for the super-dairy were rejected by North Kesteven district Council in February.

West says industrial farm plans are “shameful” and “unsustainable”

MPP, who withdrew and then resubmitted their plans earlier this year, said "These plans have been inspected by some of the most highly respected animal welfare groups, whose concerns we have tried to accommodate in the design."

However, Dominic West, speaking in advance of an event in Derby, said he believed, "The Foston proposal signals a fundamental shift in British farming towards the US and EU system of giant corporate-owned factories confining thousands of pigs in buildings and feeding them antibiotics to keep them alive.

"Treating pigs as industrial production units on such an intensive level is not only shameful but also unsustainable. It is the antithesis of what people want the British countryside and farming to be and it poses a potential threat to human health and the environment, as outlined in the Soil Association's and The Environment Agency's objections to this development."

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