More than 51 million chickens are being industrially farmed in the river valleys of the Severn and Wye, equivalent to 79 chickens for every person in the region, according to new figures. The exponential rise in large intensive poultry units (IPUs) is a key driver of river pollution, as chicken manure contains high levels of phosphates that starve fish and river plants of oxygen.
The data, shared with the Guardian by activists who analysed local planning applications and satellite imagery, reveals the growing scale of intensive chicken farming across Shropshire, Herefordshire, and Powys. In the last five years, the number of chickens in intensive units has risen from an estimated 46 million to over 51 million at any one time, according to Christine Hugh-Jones of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales and Dr Alison Caffyn, an academic leading a judicial review against a new IPU in Shropshire.
Shropshire is home to more than 20 million industrially farmed chickens at any one time, one of the densest concentrations of IPUs in Europe. The proposed unit would house nearly 250,000 chickens, located just 400 metres from an existing unit, potentially breaching government guidelines that recommend a 3km separation to prevent bird flu spread. Shropshire Council approved the planning permission after applicants promised to transfer manure to a third-party anaerobic digestion unit.
Intensive poultry farming is already blamed for devastating the River Wye, a site of special scientific interest, whose ecological status was downgraded last year from “unfavourable – recovering” to “unfavourable – declining” due to phosphate, nitrate, and ammonia pollution. Dr Caffyn will argue in the High Court that further spread of IPUs will inflict similar ecological disaster on the River Severn. Water-quality tests by the Angling Trust found that over 61% of sites on the Severn had phosphate levels above the water framework directive upper limit, and 59.6% had mean nitrate levels above acceptable levels.
The Environment Agency, which has never refused a permit for an IPU in Shropshire, approved a permit for the new unit despite rising public concern. Shropshire is the only county of the three still granting planning permission for IPUs, as a de facto moratorium has been imposed in Powys after the Welsh Government put 12 planning applications on hold in 2023 due to ecological fears.
