An advocacy group has urged councils to deny permission for livestock facilities that provide incomplete climate information.
A review by investigative outlet DeSmog and food and farming alliance Sustain has revealed the ‘noncompliance’ of megafarm operators that are obscuring necessary climate information from planning applications.
The research focused on applications for ‘intensive pig and poultry facilities’ in the UK’s largest farming areas between June 2024 and September 2025.
The review unveiled ‘persistent, systemic non-compliance with rules that require the disclosure of environmental information’ and climate change effects, such as assessments of greenhouse gas emissions.
Researchers have argued that the failure to provide necessary environmental details renders planning decisions ‘vulnerable to being overturned by judicial review’.
While planning permission for a megafarm in Methwold was refused by King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council in April, plans for a further 35 projects have reportedly been proposed, with none of the applications outlining the emissions expected to be generated from the facilities, The Guardian understands.
Lily O'Mara, Climate Campaigner at Sustain and 2025 Bertha Challenge Fellow, said: ‘The Government must stop this industry from getting away with devastating pollution. We need full environmental assessments for every facility, no new factories in already polluted areas, and proper enforcement when rules are broken.
‘Local councils have the power to act now by rejecting new industrial livestock units that can’t prove they won’t damage our environment and our health.’
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