Plans for a new manure storage shed have been given the go-ahead despite a local resident describing the smell from an existing store as “unbearable”.

Councillors on Denbighshire’s planning committee voted by 13 votes to four for the Clocaenog farm unit.

This will see a 36m x 18m shed constructed of pre-cast concrete panels and ‘juniper green’ powder coated metal sheet put up on the the Tyn y Celyn farm near Ruthin.

The application, by Bruce and Catrin Jones, went before the committee in October, but councillors agreed to defer it so a detailed management plan for the storage and disposal of manure at the site could be submitted.

Following a site visit, members of the the committee at yesterday’s meeting agreed to give the shed the go-ahead.

Speaking against the farm, Bill Seymour said: “It should be acknowledged that there is an existing manure store currently taking manure from Tyn y Celyn only metres from the proposed shed.

“The odour assessment is entirely desk-based and has not collected any field data, and so does not look at the full picture and does not look at the cumulative impact of two manure sheds in such proximity.

“The report suggests that the odour would be barely perceptible.

“I can assure members that the odour levels are unbearable at times,  meaning residents are unable to use their gardens or open their windows.”

But Mrs Jones said: “This building is needed by us to store manure alongside the building that we already have.

“We need to have this new building in order to conform entirely with the agricultural pollution rules.”