Residents lose to poultry firm
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• Premier Poultry has been granted authority to base 24 vehicles and 10 trailers at its poultry processing plant at East Markham after agreeing to a series of conditions to placate neighbouring residents.
For the company, Jonathan Lawton said the regular delivery of live birds and the distribution of oven-ready birds meant that vehicles were arriving and departing from 20:00hrs through to the afternoon of the following day.
Evidence was given by two residents that they found the noise of the vehicles manoeuvring to be extremely disturbing. The noise of fans used to pass air through vehicles holding live chickens was also extremely disruptive. They complained about smells, and that on occasions offal had dripped from vehicles. The residents claimed that it was impossible to use the front room of their houses, and that the quality of their life was substantially affected.
In reply to Lawton, they both agreed that they did not want the factory to close. They accepted that it would be better if authorised vehicles were controlled by conditions, than if the plant was served by vehicles based elsewhere, over which there would be
no environmental control.
John Sleight, the live collection manager, and Alan Hodgetts, the distribution manager, said they were conscious of the environmental impact, but they could not restrict the movement of the vehicles any further.
Granting the application, with conditions limiting the times of operation at weekends and which prohibited vehicles from using Bickland Hill, North Eastern Deputy Traffic Commissioner Brian Horner said that it was not an easy case. However, the residents had agreed that it was important that the company continue in business, and it was clear Premier Poultry was willing to continue a dialogue with the affected residents.
Horner expressed concern that there was no one single individual who could speak for the whole of the transport operation. He said that the separation of the two elements could lead to frustration for those seeking to alleviate the problems.