Activist toolkit: Take action against factory farms

Want to stop a factory farm in your area and help end the intensive livestock system for good?

We’ve spent years supporting everyday people combat the spread of factory farming – here's what we think you need to challenge new developments, report environmental harms, and build a local campaign for change.

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.

More about the impact of factory farming on rivers can be found in our blog.

2 Find out what’s been built near you

Go to your local planning portal to discover planning applications for factory farms in your area. Here, you will be able to see the documents attached to the application. If you look carefully you will be able to find the size, proposed plan and environmental statement.

Stink or Swim shows the approximate location of all the factory farms in the UK, and the corporation behind them, so you can see if you are in a factory farm hotspot.

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. We've written quite a few of these now and have a solid template you can use, just make sure to edit it with local details

Take a look at our example objection letters.
Read our planning objection template.
Use it to form your own objection.
Send to your local planning authority via their 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 TIPS
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.

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 (however justified!).
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.

Read the FAQs

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 TIPS
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.

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.