Here are 8 ways to stop a factory farm in your area and help end the intensive livestock system for good.
1 Get informed
The intensification of farming is often justified by claims that it improves food security, rural development, and consumer demand for meat. In reality, it’s:
- Feed-intensive, relying on soy imports from places like South America where it’s linked to deforestation, land grabs, and violence to Indigenous communities.
- Land-hungry, using over half of UK cropland.
- Job-poor, heavily automated and supporting fewer jobs than more sustainable farming.
- Vulnerable, tied to fragile global supply chains.
We could grow more food at home, employ more people, and reduce our emissions by investing in horticulture, mixed farming, and rewilding.
2 Find out what’s been built near you
We've mapped applications in factory farming hotspots that fail to provide a legally required greenhouse gas assessment, you can use this to see if there are any in your area. You can also go straight to your local planning portal to discover planning applications for factory farms in your area.
OUR TIP
You might need to type in ‘pig’ ‘poultry’ ‘intensive’ ‘farm’, ‘livestock’ or similar into the planning portal to get results if you don’t already know the application number or postcode. Try a combination of these to be sure you don’t miss one.
3 Object to a planning application for a new factory farm
If a factory farm is proposed in your area, you can object by submitting a comment on the planning portal or emailing the planning officer directly. To get the most out of your objection, we would encourage you to:
- Read our planning objection tips
- Take a look at the objection letter we submitted to Shropshire Council in June 2025
- Use it to form your own objection.
- Send to your local planning authority via the planning portal or email.
Don’t forget to set a reminder for when the consultation closes! If the application goes to committee, you can also request to speak and make your case in person.
OUR TIP
Focus on material planning considerations - these are the issues councils are legally allowed to consider in making their decisions.
Your local knowledge and experience as a resident is crucial. You might know what the local rare wildlife is, where an area floods regularly or where there is a dangerous section of the road. Take photos and video evidence if you can.
Example text if you're stuck for time (for an application that doesn't contain a greenhouse gas assessment)
I object to this application on the grounds of climate and environmental harm.
The Environmental Statement does not include a quantified greenhouse gas (GHG) assessment, despite this being required by law. The Supreme Court judgment in Finch v Surrey County Council (2024) confirmed that planning authorities must assess all foreseeable and quantifiable GHG emissions arising from a development. Without this information, the Council cannot lawfully determine the application. A similar intensive pig and poultry proposal was refused by King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Council in April 2025 on this basis.
The development would also increase heavy vehicle movements, odour, and noise, and would negatively affect local people, nature, and the countryside.
Because the application fails to provide the essential climate information required under the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, I urge the Council to refuse this proposal.
Valid material considerations
- Local Plan policies (check your council's Local Plan documents).
- National Planning Policy. Each UK country has its own policy. We have summarised the evidence for how factory farming opposes the various aims of planning policy in a technical guide for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
- Impact on landscape, traffic, noise, odour, water, public health.
- Proximity to residential areas, schools, or nature sites.
- Inadequate environmental mitigation e.g. missing GHG statement, no biodiversity net gain, inadequate or missing plans for waste and manure. This is how campaigners secured our Methwold win, so if you can’t spot a full and comprehensive climate change assessment in their Environmental Statement, let us know.
- Cumulative impacts - you'll need to check where the nearest ILUs to the proposed site is, and the number of pigs or poultry in the area already.
- Animal welfare can be a material planning consideration, but councils can also choose not to make it a material consideration.
Avoid (these won’t be considered)
- Personal dislike of the developer.
- General objections to farming or meat.
- Property values.
Planning FAQs
We’ve answered the most common questions about how the process works and how to challenge it.
4 Take action against a factory farm that’s polluting and / or in breach of regulations
Astonishingly, units are being built without proper planning permission under the assumption that the council will nod the application through retrospectively. If you suspect this is happening, ask the council planning team if they have investigated the breach, and issued a Planning Contravention Notice. Document what you have seen and write to your councillor and MP.
If something looks or smells off, it probably is. Our investigation with Agtivist and Feedback found that there were over 700 breaches of environmental regulations by factory farms in East Anglia alone. Report any concerns to the Environment Agency (you can use our template if you like).
OUR TIP
Tell us – we're keeping track and may be able to help.
5 Build a local campaign
Opposing an intensive livestock unit can feel overwhelming but you don’t have to do it alone. Organised communities have been a key factor in stopping these facilities across the UK.
OUR TIP
Start a local group (or join an existing one). And talk to your neighbours - knock on doors, drop a leaflet, or start a WhatsApp group.
Lots of communities organise on Facebook, so try searching for your area + the name of the development “residents” or “campaign" See if there’s a local group already working on this issue or similar, including:
- A local group that’s part of the Community Planning Alliance.
- A group working on river pollution.
- Your local Wildlife Trust or Friends of the Earth Local Action Group.
- The Environmental Law Foundation, who have used the law to support several communities across the country object to intensive livestock units
- Communities Against Factory Farming (CAFF) who support people locally to challenge new factory farm planning applications and aim to end factory farming
6 Contact your local councillor or MP
Write to your local councillor and MP if you have concerns about a proposed or existing factory farm. People take notice when an MP takes a stand.
OUR TIP
Use our MP email template to get started.
7 Speak to local press
Interested local journalists can catapult a campaign, put pressure on decision-makers and help you find allies nearby. Contact the news desk at your local paper and tell them what’s going on.
OUR TIP
Offer to give them a quote or connect them with others affected.
8 Connect with us
Don’t be a stranger! We can support your local organising, share your story nationally, and link you up with others doing similar work.
Email: foodfortheplanet@sustainweb.org
Find out more
Factory farm protest. Credit: Sustain
