Shropshire Council lost in a High Court ruling in June, overturning the planning authority’s approval of a 200,000-bird intensive poultry unit near Shrewsbury in the River Severn catchment.

The case was brought by local campaigner and River Action board member Dr Alison Caffyn, supported by River Action. She said:

“There are nearly 65 chickens for every person in Shropshire and yet the council still thought we needed more. This ruling proves what we've said all along: the planning system has been putting our rivers at risk. This case is a win for communities across the UK who are standing up to the environmental degradation caused by industrial factory farming.”

This ruling means that planning authorities must:

• Assess the cumulative impacts of having multiple intensive agricultural developments in one river catchment before granting permission for another.

• Consider how livestock production units dispose of the waste from treatment facilities downstream, including from anaerobic digestion plants.