A FREE-range chicken farm looks set to be refused by planners amid claims that it will cause noise and smells and attract flies.

Councillors at North Dorset District Council are being recommended to refuse the application to create a barn which would house up to 24,000 chickens at Farrington, near Blandford.

Objections have flooded in from parish councils in Iwerne Courtney and Stepleton, Iwerne Minster and Child Okeford and 23 letters of objection have been received from locals.

Among concerns are claims that it will be obtrusive and clearly visible from Hambledon Hill - one of Dorset's beauty spots - and that surrounding lanes are inadequate to cope the heavy traffic it would generate. Other residents fear the site would cause 24-hour light pollution.

A letter from Child Okeford Parish Council, to go before the development control committee on Tuesday November 2, states: "The smell from the hens as well as from the storage and processing of their ammonia-rich manure, would result in the proliferation of a wide range of undesirable insects and vermin, thereby giving rise to serious health hazards."

They raised concerns that other chicken farms in the area had been short lived and buildings rendered obsolete.

But applicant Mark Mogridge claimed this is an ideal location for a chicken farm and referred to the benefits of free- range chicken production.

The application is to site a laying barn on the site, 152 metres long and 20 metres wide.

But officers at NDDC say the noise, odour and flies a chicken barn would attract are grounds for refusal and that the appearance and size of the laying house would harm the character of the landscape.

The county's Highways department, Environment Agency and English Nature have no objection to the development.

First published: October 29