T&S want to open a rabbit farm on land land Adjacent To Lyndon Top Farm, Lyndon Lane, Hambleton, Rutland LE15 8RN. The deadline has passed for a decision on this application but no decision has yet been made – objections are still being registered, so please take the time to register your objection with Rutland County Council via this link (please do read everything in our blog post for tips on what to write before you click this link, to make sure your objection will be considered):
https://publicaccess.rutland.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=makeComment&keyVal=QLBKW7NNLTO00
Planning application number 2020/1439/FUL.
Alternatively, email them on enquiries@rutland.gov.uk – please remember to include the planning reference 2020/1439/FUL along with your full name and address in order for it to be valid. You have the right to request that your personal details be kept anonymous and not published on the planning portal if you wish.
Please feel free to elaborate upon the following bullet points in your objection. – please note that making your own statement rather than copy and pasting will have the best effect. Please keep in mind that unfortunately, moral objections do not carry any weight in planning applications; however that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t voice your moral concerns alongside any ‘valid planning considerations’. Ask for welfare to be made a material consideration during the review of planning applications involving animals – particularly in the case of rabbit farms as there is no species-specific legislation protecting the welfare of rabbits in the UK, on farm or at slaughter.
– The proposed buildings contravene Local Planning Policy CS 24 – Large unsightly farm buildings are not in keeping with the surrounding area, which is largely undeveloped and an SSSI.
– The proposed location is adjacent to a popular tourist location, Rutland Water, directly opposite a popular Wildlife Trusts visitor centre.
– Rutland Water is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is home to a multitude of wildlife, many endangered. There has been no ecological appraisal conducted in the application documents.
– Nothing in the application outlines how the waste produced by the farmed rabbits will be prevented from contaminating the area ie. how Rutland Water and its tributaries will be protected from waste run-off from the farm. The application states rabbit waste shall simply be left on the ground.
– Smells and traffic – rabbits create a lot of waste and ammonia, which will no doubt encroach on the visitors centre. Their bodies are to be disposed of via waste contractor lorries, another source of horrendous smells. The road on which the farm shall be accessed is the same used by visitors to the centre, which is already a busy route.
– No mention of how rabbits will be slaughtered. No slaughterhouses hold a license to slaughter rabbits currently in the UK. There is no demand for rabbit meat in the UK, most people are repulsed at the thought of consuming it. As rabbit farming is something which is highly frowned upon in current public attitudes, the farm would attract protests and unwanted attention, disrupting and upsetting visitors to the popular area.
– If they are to be slaughtered on-site, there’s also the question whether ‘agricultural use’ can really stretch to include slaughtering.
– The production cap of 10,000 rabbits per year, for ‘small-scale suppliers’ means the applicant is exempt from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) rules for monitoring and reporting. Without FSA oversight with the presence of an Official Vet (OV) and CCTV monitoring in all areas where animals are present, there would be no day-to-day oversight of animal welfare, meat hygiene, food safety or safe waste disposal.
– There are no measures outlined on how they intend to combat the spread of disease in the rabbits. There are no specific drugs licensed for use in rabbits in the UK, due in large to the lack of commercial rabbit farming here. There is also no mention of vaccinating the rabbits against the fatal, incurable diseases Myxomatosis, VHD and VHD2. There have been documented outbreaks of VHD2 on Mr. Kerry’s other farms.
– There is a question of whether these farms are an attempt at fur farming ‘through the back door’ – the T&S website mainly advertises highly priced fur products which appear to generate the vast majority of their income. A recent yougov poll revealed that the vast majority (93%) of people in Britain don’t wear real animal fur and support a Fur Free Britain.
– There is a real concern that this proposal is all just a back door approach to get planning permission on this greenbelt site for it to be built upon. The area is very much undeveloped with no nearby houses, and locals believe this will lead to more of the beautiful countryside surrounding the area being destroyed for development.
– The “successful rabbit breeding enterprise” already located on the site presumably does not have a 24 hour presence to care for them as there is currently no permanent dwelling set up on the land.