Pig Housing Development

• Introduction
• Ventilation
• Blueprint for Finishing Pig Housing
• Housing Systems – Best Available Techniques (BAT)
• Slurry Stores
• Planning and Development
• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
• Building Regulations
• Permitted Development
• Agricultural Worker’s Dwellings
• Pig buildings survey report

Environmental Impact Assessment

Environment Hub » Pig Housing Development » Environmental Effects Regulations »

Previous regulations have now been consolidated in The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2011 which still requires new development projects for:

• 3,000 places for production pigs (over 30kg)

or

• 900 places for sows

to undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before planning permission can be granted: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1999/99029305.htm#sch1

This is in addition to Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR) (formerly IPPC) permitting.

An EIA is also required when any development of an intensive livestock unit exceeds the above threshold or any part is within an environmentally sensitive area where:

• the area of new floor space exceeds 500 metres square

or

• more than 0.5 ha of semi-natural or uncultivated land is developed

An EIA assesses the effect a proposed new unit could have upon the environment through noise, smell, pollution, visual impact, traffic, potential flooding and ecology, and considers means of reducing the impacts of the proposal.

This allows the farmer to reconsider his original ideas and possibly improve on them before the final submission of a planning application.

This is further to EPR, which has lower thresholds, but much of the EPR process translates to the EIA.

The planning application together with the EIA are then determined by the Local Planning Authority who decide whether the proposed scheme is given consent or if some of the alternatives within the EIA should be considered to reduce the potential impact.

Aside from planning permission, an Environmental Impact Assessment may be required in order to gain consent from Natural England for:

• Any agricultural project likely to have a significant effect on the environment or
• Cultivation of land that has not been cultivated for over 15 years (although cultivation includes harrowing and spraying but not topping or grazing).