Holiday cottage owners voice fears over smell from pig farm
Magdalene, right, and Alex Loyd <cor>, at their Olde Farm Holiday Cottages at Banham, where the smells from the Peddars Pigs farm next door are putting the guests off. With them is their neighbour Penny Whittemore, centre. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY - Credit: Copyright: Archant 2016
The owners of three Norfolk holiday cottages are worried odours from a neighbouring pig farm may drive them out of business.
Peddars Pigs farm at Banham where smells are putting guests off at Magdalene and Alex Loyd's Olde Farm holiday cottages, and at the pink cottage, back left, owned by Penny Whittemore. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY - Credit: Copyright: Archant 2016
Magdalene McShane and Alex Loyd, who run Olde Farm Holiday Cottages in Banham, have made numerous complaints to Breckland Council about the smells from Peddars Pigs, which houses around 800 pigs on a site adjacent to theirs on New Buckenham Road.
The land, formerly used to grow sugar beet, was given to the livestock company by its owner for the temporary keeping of pigs.
However, despite promising Dr McShane and Mr Loyd the animals would be moved by July, the couple say a new delivery of several hundred piglets is now being reared on the farm.
Dr McShane said: 'Every which-way I turn everyone is sympathetic, but nobody can do anything. What we have been through in the last nine months nobody should have to go through – it is just obscene.
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'The stench was unbelievable. They were literally feet from our house and it got worse when they started taking the pigs to market.
'I was in tears every day for about 10 weeks because of the noise, our guests were complaining – it was the most horrendous time.' Dr McShane claims she has had to hand out refunds to holiday-makers using the cottages who have been affected by the smell.
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Two recent guests, who praised the accommodation and its location, said their 'whole experience was marred by an unbelievably foul stench from the neighbouring farm land'.
Adrian Joel, Breckland district councillor for the Buckenhams and Banham, said: 'My first concern is for the residents of Banham. The odour from the pigs is not helping the businesses they are trying to run.
'Consideration is the key word in this situation. You need to be considerate to your neighbours.'
A spokesperson for Peddars Pigs said the company is currently seeking legal advice about the situation and did not wish to comment.
A Breckland Council spokesman said members of its environmental protection team have been in contact with Olde Farm and officers have visited the site to assess whether the odours are 'above what could reasonably be expected, given the site's proximity to the pig farm'.
He added: 'This investigation is still under way and we continue to support the site owners.'
