The government wants to intensify animal agriculture and confine more chickens to factory farms. We're taking them to court to stop their unlawful plans.

In March this year, the government adopted a Land Use Framework for England that encourages greater intensification of animal agriculture. 

To do that, it promises to create a “sector growth plan” for chicken production, adding dangerous support to an industry that poisons our rivers, pollutes our air and causes untold suffering to billions of sentient beings.

The government’s support for factory farming flies in the face of the immense animal welfare, public health and environmental harms that it causes.

An intensive poultry unit in Suffolk.  

In promoting intensive chicken production, the government is acting against its environmental obligations. It also failed to carry out adequate consultation in adopting the Land Use Framework. 

That's why we’re planning a legal challenge against the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to overturn this unlawful action.

We need your help to raise at least £60,000 to bring this legal challenge. Anything you can give moves us closer to achieving justice for communities, the environment and animals trapped inside factory farms.

To start, we need to raise £4,000 to pay for initial legal fees.

A resident standing outside an Intensive Chicken Farm near his home. Since the factory farm was built, Alisdair has dealt with severe fly infestations, odours, and noise.  

Why We’re Bringing a Legal Challenge

Promoting factory farming goes against the best available evidence on animal welfare, public health and the environment.

More than one billion chicks live short painful lives in factory farms every year, confined to cramped spaces, where they will never get the chance to express natural behaviours. 

Factory farming is a leading cause of zoonotic disease transmission and antimicrobial resistance, as well as respiratory and cardiovascular disease risks. 

And let’s not forget that chicken manure is literally killing the UK’s rivers.

The Land Use Framework is unlawful because, among other things, Defra: 

• failed to carry out the required environmental assessments to comply with the Environment Act 2021;

• failed to assess the conservation objectives required by the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017;

• failed to carry out adequate consultation on the intensification of farming.

In a nutshell, the government would be rolling out the red carpet for factory farm expansion without proper scrutiny of the harms it would cause.

Crucially, Defra’s failures would embed decades of factory farming in the UK. That needs to be challenged.

Residents campaigning against a factory farm application in Lincolnshire

How You Can Help 

Legal action works-- we've challenged public bodies before to stop the spread of factory farming, blocking three intensive farms in the last 12 months from being built following judicial review. But a case like this comes at considerable cost for an organisation like ours.

We need at least £60,000 to bring this case all the way through to a full hearing in the High Court. Without that money, we won't be able to fight the judicial review, and factory farming mega-corporations will be given a green light to expand without opposition.

With your support, we can hold the government to account. Together, we can stand up for communities, the environment and animals.