Salmon farm approved after legal challenge

A £120m onshore salmon farm has been granted planning approval, despite a legal challenge by an animal rights group.

A judicial review was held in February after Animal Equality UK challenged the proposed Cleethorpes farm on the basis of animal welfare concerns.

Deputy High Court Judge Karen Ridge upheld the council's decision to allow the salmon farm but ruled that animal welfare concerns could be a key planning consideration in future cases.

Following the review, the leader of North East Lincolnshire Council (NELC), Philip Jackson, said he "looked forward to seeing this development progress".

The salmon farm, located at New Clee and put forward by Aquacultured Seafood LTD, will span a 10-acre (40,000-sq-m) site and process 5,000 tonnes a year.

It will also create over 300 jobs, 100 of which would be permanent, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Councillors voted seven to four in favour of planning approval in November 2023.

Construction was put on hold due to the judicial review which was granted in September and took place at Leeds Combined Court Centre.

Barrister Alex Shattock, who represented the animal rights group in court, said it was the first reported case to consider the significance of animal welfare concerns in planning decisions.

Mark Berthet, Aquacultured's director, said the fishing industry had "long been a source of employment for North East Lincolnshire residents".

"Providing not only income, but a sense of pride and community, and we intend to ensure that it continues," he said.

NELC's leader, Jackson, said the farm would offer a "great opportunity in innovative methods of sustainable salmon farming" along with creating "economic investment and employment".

Animal Equality UK's executive director, Abigail Penny, said the group had worked on stopping the fish farm's development for two years.

"We have absolutely no intention of backing down now.

"This is nothing but a corporate land grab and we won't stand for it.

"We will fight until the bitter end," she said.

Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.