A campaign to fund a legal battle against plans for an indoor pig farm has raised almost £5,000.
Scores of objections to the planned development at Rectory Farm on Aldborough Road, Aldborough, were lodged with North Norfolk District Council before comments on the application closed last month.
Phil Chapman, a village resident who is helping co-ordinate the campaign against the plans, said the amount raised - so far more than £4,700 - showed how passionate many people were about stopping it.
Mr Chapman said: “There’s about 20 different people in the village working on different aspects of it - this is not something we’re going to just let through.”
The application calls for two new pig sheds to be built replacing an existing set-up where 1,000 pigs are kept inside and 1,000 are kept outside. It says the new operation would be better for the animals and more environmentally-friendly than what is already there.
It says pollution from the site would be strictly controlled by legislation governed by the Environment Agency.
MORE: Controversial pig farm plans spark village angerBut Mr Chapman said there were, in fact, no pigs at the site, so the application was effectively for a new farm.
He said: “The application is based on the idea that there is already a pig farm with pigs there, but anyone who goes up to the farm can see that there are no pigs there.”
Mr Chapman said some of the money raised through the website www.gofundme.com was being used to commission an independent report asserting the application was in fact for a change of use from a site with no pigs to one with 1900 pigs.
Campaigners have also engaged lawyers to write to the council to contest the application, which they say is inaccurate.
The applicants, D W Filby and Son, declined to comment on the concerns when approached by this newspaper.
A planning and access statement submitted on behalf of the farm says: “The proposal will secure existing employment within the business and offers future financial sustainability for the farm.
“The proposed replacement buildings would be seen as being better grouped and associated with each other, and would reduce the overall footprint of the structures on site. The buildings would be of a modern design and would utilise the latest technologies to substantially reduce the environmental emissions from the farm.”
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