At long last the planning application for Nocton has been submitted. With fewer than half the original cow numbers, the people behind the development will be hoping this will be enough of a change to enable the permission to be granted with fewer objections.
But almost 4,000 cows is still a lot by anyone’s standards. And there will be little doubt that people in the villages surrounding the proposed development will think there are about 3,500 cows too many.
It requires a big leap of faith for many of these people to put what they see as their quality of life and the value of their properties in the hands of the three men who want to develop Nocton. The promises they have made to local people and the alterations to the plans will certainly help, but it is still tough to persuade anyone of the merits of having such a large dairy unit in the local area, despite aspirations for leading cow welfare and environmental standards.
And while it might be coincidence, it is intriguing that the planning application is going in the same week as the NFU and WI kick off their great milk debate.
Nocton has certainly fired up a debate about the dairy industry, and there are plenty of organisations who now seem to have come out in favour of more traditional dairy units.
Is this the opportunity dairy farmers so badly need to talk to consumers about the state of the industry? Is it the time for everyone to fire up the call for “Fair Trade for British Dairy Farmers” as Farmers Guardian did last year?
With so many people clearly interested in where dairy farming is going, this could be an opportunity to spell out why we will see more of these large units unless things change radically.
Whether or not Nocton gets the go-ahead, the fact is that the UK dairy industry is at a crossroads. We need to use every opportunity to ensure everyone can see a positive and sustainable road ahead for producers, however many cows they milk.
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