AN action group battling plans to develop a chicken farm housing 250,000 of broiler birds is holding a public meeting next week.

The Wychavon Parishes Action Group has called a joint public meeting with the Environment Agency on Tuesday, September 23, at Upton Snodsbury village church, to hear opinion on the plans to develop a so called "chicken city" in the area.

This comes after Wychavon District Council rejected a neighbouring application by Edward Davies for a chicken broiler production unit up to 160,000. Mr Davies already has permission for a farm of two units, which would house 80,000 birds on the site.

The meeting, which will be attended by Sir Peter Luff MP, David Throup of the Environment Agency, councillor Rob Adams and Phil Merrick, head of planning and community services at Wychavon County Council, is open to all and starts at 7.30pm.

During the evening the Environment Agency will be seeking the opinion of local residents on an Environmental Permit application which has been made by F C Jones & Co (Kinsey Hern) with regard to a plan to add a chicken operation of 250,000 broiler chickens.

The EA has defined the area as a "site of high public interest" and taken the unusual step of calling a public meeting to discuss the application.

There will also be an Environment Agency drop-in session on Wednesday, September 24, at Upton Snodsbury Village Hall between 3pm and 7:30pm.

The deadline for receipt of comments on this Permit Application is September 30. These can be made by visiting gov.uk/government/publications/wr7-4pd-environmental-permit-application-advertisement.

For more information on the campaign against bringing chicken farming into the area visit no-chickenfarm.org.uk.