A NATIONAL organisation has objected to plans for a poultry shed to be created near an “ancient woodland”.

The Woodland Trust was encouraging people to send in representations to the proposals for Begbie Wood, between Bolton and Samuelston, ahead of the deadline earlier this month.

The development, put forward by Hamilton Farming Enterprises Ltd, who declined to comment, includes a 140m in length, 20m in width and 5.5m in height poultry house.

The house, and its associated 16ha ranging area, can accommodate 32,000 free-range, egg-laying hens.

According to The Woodland Trust’s website: “Ancient semi-natural woodland is an irreplaceable resource and, along with other woodlands, hedgerows and individual trees, especially veteran trees of high nature conservation and landscape value, should be protected from adverse impacts resulting from development.

“As well as the direct loss to the ancient woodland, the site will be heavily impacted by the free ranging of the chickens, specifically the impact that the hens will have on ammonia concentrations in the woodland from their manure.

“The concentrations of ammonia will mean that any ground flora which survives the grubbing up from the hens will alter in composition due to the added nutrients on site.

“The hens will also cause disturbance to the woodland floor and one of the most important aspects of ancient woodland is its undisturbed soil.

“An Environmental Impact Assessment has not been carried out on-site; due to the impact to such a large area of ancient woodland, [we] request that the council ask the applicant to carry this out.

“At the very least, an ecological survey, which currently has not taken place, should be carried out on-site before a decision is made by the council.”

It is thought that a number of people from the county and beyond have contacted both local councillors and the local authority over the proposals.

A spokesman for the group said: “Although we support chicken farms using trees, when it involves damage to ancient woodland it’s not something we can condone.

“This is the case with the Begbie Wood poultry unit application.

“If the plans go ahead it will cause direct loss and damage to over 16 hectares of ancient woodland.

“There has been continuous woodland cover at Begbie Wood since at least Victorian times, so that means a whole plant community and soil structure has evolved.

“The ammonia from chicken waste would do dreadful damage.”