A mega factory fish farm has been approved in Downton. We're challenging the decision – and need your help to stop this deadly expansion.

In May this year, Wiltshire Council waved through the expansion of an intensive salmon farm, despite its clear environmental and animal welfare harms.

Fish farms are cruel and environmentally destructive. Wiltshire Council approved the expansion, despite information supplied being legally deficient.

We’re holding them to account.

We need your help to raise the funds needed to pay our lawyers fairly. Anything you give will help us fight this factory farm all the way to the High Court, where costs could reach £40,000.

Why This Fish Farm Cannot Be Approved

Onshore fish farms are disastrous for fish, for wildlife, for water quality and for the climate.

Under the cover of a simple “canopy” over a fish pond, this expansion could end up converting Downton into the UK’s largest onshore salmon farm.

Hundreds of millions of farmed salmon have died in mass die-offs in the past decade. In one case, 100,000 fish suffocated at an on-land salmon farm in Scotland.

The proposed site is metres from the River Avon Special Area of Conservation. Our rivers are already dying from the spread of intensive agriculture. Adding a giant on-land salmon farm will be another nail in the coffin.

To approve this development, the Council had to see proof beyond reasonable scientific doubt that it will not adversely affect the river’s integrity.

Instead, it delegated the decision to one unelected officer who approved it without proper scrutiny.

In doing so, the Council failed to consider:

• the downstream impacts of the vast amounts of sludge produced;

• the climate change impacts from Scope 3 emissions;

• proof of sustainable development;

• specific needs of salmon as a species.

In other words, Wiltshire Council failed in its legal obligations. And, as a direct result, wildlife, rivers, communities and thousands upon thousands of fish will suffer – unless we can reverse the decision.

How You Can Help 

Legal action works – we’ve already reversed planning decisions through legal challenges.

We are the last line of defence against this deadly development. But a case like this comes at considerable cost for an organisation like ours.

We’re raising money to pay our lawyers fairly and challenge this case as far as is necessary. With your support, we can stop this sneaky intensification and prevent the expansion of intensive fish farms.

Thank you for anything you can spare – every donation helps end us fight against factory farming.