A NEW broiler farm with capacity for as many as three million birds has been planned for Manilla.
With it, a new processing plant and rendering plant are proposed to be built on Tamworth’s outskirts and the prospect of 600 permanent jobs are set to follow the construction phase.
This includes as many as 25 jobs planned for “Strathfield”, the 1619-hectare farm earmarked for the 70-shed operation.
While many see the employment prospects as a positive, others await the development application – expected to be submitted by Baiada this week – so they can decide whether concerns raised about the proposed development are justified.
Local opposition has united under the Namoi River Community Group (NRCG) and claims a development of that size poses a risk of polluting the Namoi River, and the increased traffic through Manilla’s town centre would be a threat to locals’ safety.
Chief executive officer for Baiada property services company, EJC Corporate Services, John Vassallo, said Baiada purchased “Strathfield” for $3.6 million about 18 months ago.
“We spent years looking for a site around Tamworth that would tick all the boxes,” he said, with Tamworth and Griffith being the company’s main production areas as it relocates production from the Sydney Basin.
“Strathfield” included 20 land titles that Baiada plans to consolidate into five titles at 324ha each, he said.
Upon each title will be a separate broiler farm, each with the capacity to house 588,000 birds for an overall capacity of almost three million.
Baiada holds a water licence for 515 megalitres on “Strathfield”, but is expected to only use about 500ML annually to sustain production.
The development – to be supplied with hatchlings from the company’s existing hatchery, the biggest in Australia, near Tamworth airport – will help the company meet continued growth in chicken consumption.
According to the Australian Chicken Meat Federation this was already at 43.5 kilograms per capita a year (2010-11) and growing.
Mr Vassallo said combined with Australia’s anticipated population growth of about 400,000 a year, that was worth a lot of chicken meat orders.
As well as the plans for “Strathfield”, Mr Vassallo said Baiada’s Tamworth rendering plant on Gunnedah Road, which burnt down, would be rebuilt.
The application is currently with the State government and approval is expected by the end of January.
If the “Strathfield” project is approved, the extra production will justify moving Baiada’s processing plant from Out Street in Tamworth – where it has been for 50 years – to the same site as the rendering plant.
In response to the fears of Manilla’s water supply being polluted, Mr Vassallo said none of the land between Namoi River Road and the river on “Strathfield” was earmarked for sheds.
Furthermore, all the litter from the sheds would be moved off-farm for processing and sold to companies that trade in fertiliser and pasture improvement products, he said.
However, NRCG publicity officer Bob Wales was particularly concerned about the size and placement of the broiler farm upstream from the town’s water supply.
“Baiada is constructing some of these sheds on secondary streams and over aquifers that feed back into the Namoi River,” he said.
He said the waste, including associated cleaning chemicals, would be prone to washing into the creeks and river, particularly while temporarily stored on-site awaiting transport.
Tamworth City Council has previously taken Baiada to court over the issue of run-off.
This particular case (The Land and Environment Court versus Baiada Poultry Ltd) was during 2008 for a leak that was thought to have occurred during April-May 2007.
According to the Land and Environment Court, it involved the escape of one million litres of
effluent affecting 1.1 kilometres of river.
The Land and Environment Court ordered Baiada to pay almost $200,000 in fines and clean-up costs.
Despite potential risks, Mr Wales felt Tamworth City Council would give the project the green light because of the number of jobs to be based in processing and rendering in Tamworth.
“With 70 sheds, we’re talking a complex that has a footprint bigger than our whole town (Manilla) – it’s huge,” Mr Wales said.
“Cost to the community versus benefit – I see very little there.
“We’ve got about 14,000 tourists that go out to Warrabah National Park each year, so they’ll be driving straight past these sheds.
“If the wind’s blowing the wrong way (I don’t think) these visitors would be very happy to keep camping out at Warrabah.
“They bring money to the town – they stop and buy food, fuel and provisions.”
While car movements might decline, truck movements would increase.
Mr Vassallo said the proposed development on “Strathfield” would generate 30 truck movements a day through Manilla.
Mr Wales said the town would have to cop the smell during the movement of manure and dead birds from the farm.
The increased heavy traffic was also on the radar of Tamworth Council director of planning and community services Jackie Kruger, who said consideration of how this would impact the area’s whole road network would be taken into account.
“We will assess all the effects on a cumulative basis, so we won’t look at it as if just one farm is working at a time,” she said.
Tamworth Mayor Col Murray said he expected the development to bring as many as 600 permanent jobs to the region, not including construction.
“Traffic will be one of the significant considerations of the council and the impacts on the community will certainly be assessed,” Cr Murray said.
The cost of the project, overseen by planning consultant company PSA, will total $100m for the five broiler enterprises on “Strathfield”, $180m for the processing plant and $40m for the rendering plant.
The public exhibition period will be 30 days and is not expected to start until late January.