Animal welfare should be part of planning process

07.06.11

The recent widespread media and public interest in large-scale farms such as Nocton Dairy highlights the need for animal welfare to become a 'material consideration' within the planning system.

We have written to Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, to express concern that animal welfare is not currently a 'material consideration' in the planning process.

The letter, sent by RSPCA chief executive, Mark Watts, highlights the need for this to be considered in applications that are for either farm or companion animals housing such as kennels, catteries or farms.

As the government is currently in the process of looking at amending and improving the planning system we felt this was an opportunity to highlight this issue and help move the debate forward in a constructive way.

CEO Mark Watts said:

Every year the RSPCA receives hundreds of letters from members of the public regarding planning applications that include the housing of animals in their local authority area.

While planning departments are willing to accept comments regarding animal welfare, and where appropriate the RSPCA has submitted our concerns about specific applications, planning departments do make it clear that it is not a 'material consideration' and thus an application cannot be turned down on those grounds.

 

He added that the RSPCA believes that including animal welfare as a 'material consideration' for certain applications will not only protect animal welfare, but ensure that all applications are handled consistently regardless of whether the application is for five dog kennels or a farming facility for 3,000 cows.

 

We would expect such planning decisions to become more prevalent in the future, as many sectors of the farming industry seek to expand in an attempt to remain viable.

Animal welfare a key consideration

We feel that as well as ensuring animal welfare is a key consideration during the planning process, this move could also help planning authorities to analyse the factual basis of claims by those opposing large scale planning applications on the grounds that they will inevitably cause welfare problems; this will help ensure generalisations about large, medium or small-scale farms in terms of animal welfare are avoided.

Welfare is dependent on a variety of factors, not just number of animals, with stockmanship (both in terms of ratio to animals and level of expertise) being one of the most important issues in determining welfare. That is why it is essential that this kind of detail is anaIysed by planning authorities and that each application is looked at on a case-by-case basis.

Intensive farms are unacceptable

Our clear position is that 'intensive' farms, where the environment and management prevents the performance of normal behaviour of the animals, to such an extent that their welfare is compromised, are unacceptable and the planning process must take account of this.

 

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