More detail sought on Tegal chicken shed proposal

Tegel Foods wants to set up a broiler chicken farm

A former Dargaville deputy mayor says a poultry giant should be given the chance to build a massive chicken farm if it consults with the community and mitigates environmental effects.

Tegel Foods wants to set up a broiler chicken farm capable of stocking up to 1.3 million chickens, and locals are keen to know what smell and noise it might generate.

The poultry company wants to buy more than 250 hectares of land at Arapohue, just outside Dargaville, and erect 32 sheds housing the chickens which will be transported to Tegel's processing plant in West Auckland.

The venture is expected to create 28 jobs.

It will certainly be of interest to immediate neighbours, given an operation of that size. I think public consultation is important.

Bill Simpkin

Former Kaipara deputy mayor Richard Alspach had not heard of Tegel's plans but said the proposed chicken farm was a "massive enterprise" and the public needed to be consulted.

Kaipara District Council spokesman Ben Hope said Tegel would like to publicly notify its application for a resource consent and that would happen once Tegel supplied further information to KDC.

Mr Hope said KDC yesterday requested more information on the resource consent application.

He did not specify what more KDC wanted from Tegel.

He said the chicken farm operation was a "discretionary activity".

Mr Alspach said he was not against Tegel's plan but would like the KDC to impose conditions that took issues such as effluent discharges into account.

"Things like impact on roads, discharge to waterways and uptake of water from catchments need to be looked into. When there's a major industry in their area, the community should have a say from an environment point of view.

"If Tegel can do it in a way that mitigates environment effects, they should be given a chance. There will be local benefits in employing 28 people," said Mr Alspach, who has lived on Pukehuia Rd in Arapohue for 45 years.

Another Arapohue resident, Bill Simpkin, was not aware of the proposed chicken farm either.

"It will certainly be of interest to immediate neighbours given an operation of that size.
"People need to be assured there won't be nuisance in terms of noise and smell so I think public consultation is important."

In its resource consent application, Tegel said each shed would be 20m wide by 130m long and 4.5m high.