A Norfolk MP has again objected to plans for a poultry farm near Attleborough, saying the project would be “unsustainable, inappropriate and out of keeping with the surrounding area”.

George Freeman, the Conservative MP for Mid Norfolk, had objected in January 2022 to an earlier version of the scheme, which proposed housing some 365,600 chickens in eight sheds off Swangey Lane, outside the village of Rockland All Saints.

In a new letter to Breckland Council, Mr Freeman said that an amended application for the project “is not fundamentally different” to the earlier scheme, and that there were still concerns about the “environmental impacts and possible pollution that a facility of this size, in this location, could generate”. 

The MP caveated that he remains one of the “biggest advocates and supporters” of the local farming sector, pointing to his childhood on his stepfather’s farm, which taught him about farming’s “vital importance”.

But he is still opposed to this specific scheme.

The project’s applicants have said it “will diversify our farming practice and allow for farming to continue within the family” and provide local jobs. 

The council is due to issue a decision by March 9.