Cranswick Country Foods expansion plan on Eye Airfield Industrial Estate raises odour worries

Plans to extend a poultry processing plant have prompted concerns.

Cranswick Country Foods wants to extend its facility at Oaksmere Business Park on Eye Airfield Industrial Estate, Yaxley.

The site was previously granted permission by Mid Suffolk District Council for a new processing facility and associated external work.

A new application is now seeking permission to extend the processing area of the factory to house “new, more efficient equipment” to suit the needs of the applicant’s customers.

The planning statement says it will also allow for some reconfiguration of machinery within existing areas of the building, which would not otherwise be possible without the creation of the additional floorspace.

The applicant says the proposed development will not give rise to an increase in employee numbers or the number of birds brought to site, nor to any rise in the amount of finished goods being dispatched.

The proposed extension will be constructed as an infill on unused land between two existing lean-to elements of the building.

It will be of similar height to these, which are below the existing ridge height, with all materials to match existing ones.

The applicant states it will have “negligible visual impact” and will not impede on routes used for pedestrian access, nor for the turning or parking of vehicles.

However, Yaxley Parish Council has objected to any extension to the factory until concerns over flooding on adjacent farm land are addressed.

It also says a problem of odour escaping from the processing plant must be rectified.

It said odours had affected Yaxley and other nearby areas recently, adding the issue had been particularly bad in recent weeks and “must not happen again”.

Eye Town council has raised no concerns, other than a potential increase in productivity, which could result in an increase in products being delivered to and from the factory.