Lincolnshire Chicken Megafarm Delayed: 1,000+ Objections Raise Air Pollution, River & Antibiotic Resistance Risks

What distance from a home is “suitable” for a factory farm? In Newton, Lincolnshire, one planned development is 1,000 meters away from the nearest house - but for over 1,000 people in the UK, that’s still way too close. 

Hinch Enterprises was set to establish six chicken factory farms in Newton, but in the fall of 2025, the development faced heavy public opposition. In an effort to protect the nature of Lincolnshire and the wellbeing of its residents, more than 1,000 people within the UK submitted objections to the development of the factory farm and successfully delayed the approval of Hinch Enterprises’ application. 

While some objections expressed worry for increased traffic, residents were also struck by the public health issues that arise from nearby factory farms. Even from a distance, industrial agriculture also takes it’s toll on environmental health. 

If you’re also worried about the rise of factory farming in the UK, want to see where they’re being built or eager to easily object to their planning applications, visit Communities Against Factory Farming to do just that. 

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Source: REUTERS/Max Whittaker

New Factory Farm? Air Pollution Should Be Non-Negotiable

Air quality across the UK is worsened by factory farm waste and livestock, particularly from harmful ammonia emissions. Even at levels said to pose a lower threat to human health, the ammonia still disrupts local ecosystems: the gas can condense among water in the atmosphere and rain onto nearby habitats.

The more poultry, the more ammonia: at an average addition of over 3.8 million birds per year (with 35 million as of 2023) Lincolnshire has seen the highest increase out of all of the affected counties. In fact, one researcher estimated that a planned factory farm would have the same impact on air quality as that of the M25, one of the UK’s busiest motorways. Yet while large developments like motorways and gas sites are required to release the climate impacts of their activities, factory farms are not. 

Local pushback in Lincolnshire and elsewhere can help push the realities of factory farming into the light, so that it is as equally scrutinised as other industries according to its toll on the environment and public health.

More Foul Means Foul Odours and Dying Rivers

In standing up for their health, the people of Lincolnshire are also standing up for aquatic life across the country. 

The factory farms found abundantly in Lincolnshire have contaminated the River Severn with immense amounts of manure run-off. Standing proudly as the longest river in the UK, it now faces the severe consequences of having to deal with this. 

This happens in two main ways. Firstly, much of the waste is directly dumped into the body of fresh water. Secondly, as an attempt to deal with the vast amounts of manure produced and inadequately disposed of,  it is often sold to other farms as sludge to be used as fertiliser. In fact, about 87% of the sludge in the UK is redistributed to farmland, amounting to 3.6 million tonnes.

As these nutrients from the waste flood into the river, it feeds huge algal blooms which block sunlight and cause oxygen density to drop to unlivable levels. Without adequate sun and oxygen, aquatic ecosystems are massacred, killing fish and decimating the populations of other organisms below water. 

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Source: BBC

As Public Outrage Over Factory Farm Intensifies, Factory Farms Become Riskier Investments

Residential pushback could increase the short-term risks for factory farm investments in the short-term as controversies impact share prices and business models. For example, even supermarkets took action against factory farming in Lincolnshire in 2025, after video footage of violent abuse against piglets was released. This controversy induced three of the UK’s largest supermarkets to cut ties with the exposed farms.

Other risks are long-term and far more systemic, such as the over use of antibiotics. Poultry farms are under pressure to grow chicks into full size chickens using as little feed as possible. To accomplish this, poultry are given the same antibiotics that humans use to prevent disease. These antibiotics do two jobs at once: they make chickens grow at an unnaturally fast pace and they prevent the spread of disease between animals living in confined spaces and unsanitary conditions. 

However, the overuse of antibiotics - which is rampant among factory farms - threatens human health and earth’s ecosystems as certain strains of bacteria become resistant to antibiotic treatment. This overuse of antibiotics makes what should be routine and simple medical operations more dangerous. This issue is already associated with millions of deaths per year and is widely regarded as one of the biggest threats to the future of human life.

The structure of factory farms themselves - in which animals are kept in close quarters with open wounds and exposure to feces - are increasingly common in places around the world that have little to no restriction on animal antibiotics.

As the tide shifts and people reject factory farms in all their practices that ultimately harm animals, humans, and the nearby environment, the harms of factory farm investment become more clear. Dissent against the directly abusive practices, as well as the willingness for residents to speak up in support of their public health, as antibiotic resistance progresses, will only get stronger.

How Can You Help Tackle Factory Farming?

Is your bank investing in industrial animal agriculture? Find out, and send them a message to push them away from factory farming. If you’re in the UK, you can also use our step-by-step guide on how to switch your bank to a more ethical one.

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