Woodland Enterprises granted approval to expand poultry farm

A poultry farm on the Sunshine Coast hinterland has won approval to expand its flock by almost 300,000 birds taking it to almost half a million chooks, despite pleas from a local councillor on animal welfare grounds.

A chicken farm has been greenlit to expand.

A Sunshine Coast poultry farm has been granted approval to more than double the number of birds kept on site despite animal welfare concerns.

The Beerburrum poultry farm owned by Woodland Enterprises – a long-running Sunshine Coast business directed by John, Murray, Malcolm and Ian Elks, applied to the Sunshine Coast Council to have six new sheds approved, which will house a total of 452,640 birds.

The 31ha farm is located west of the Bruce Highway at 325 and 367 Red Rd Beerburrum and currently has four sheds on the property containing 171,456 chickens, meaning the green light given on Thursday, June 22, would enable them to add up to 280,000 new birds.

Development planner John Borthwick said the closest residents were approximately 700m away from the farm and the assessment found the development proposal would not cause any disruptive noises or smells.

The farm was initially granted approval in May 2000, which included four sheds and allowed up to 200,000 birds.

Approximately 138 properly made submissions were received in relation to the farm’s proposal and all were in support of the development going ahead.

The proposed new chook sheds outlined in blue.

However, Sunshine Coast councillors were unable to reach a unanimous decision when the proposal was debated in the council’s ordinary meeting on Thursday, June 22.

Councillor Rick Baberowski put forward an alternative motion to refuse the development outlined the scale and intensity as well as environmental impacts of the proposal to be inappropriate for the location.

“The applicant has not stated there is an overriding need for the proposal development in terms of public benefit and that no other site is available for this purpose,” Mr Baberowski said.

Mr Baberowski then addressed the chamber and asked them to refuse the application siting environmental concerns stating “it is not just an animal welfare issue it is an environmental issue”.

“This intensification of a use is not a good planning outcome for this region and I respectfully ask you to refuse this application on the grounds of its environmental risks, its impact on good agricultural land and its inadequate site attributes,” Mr Baberowski said.

“In the application before you now it is 452,640 animals at any one time, potentially well in excess of two million per year kept in far, far higher densities, in artificial and stressful conditions for the whole of their lives.”

Mr Baberowski’s alternative motion failed, with councillors voting 7-2 against his motion.

The votes then broke the same way, this time in support of the original officer’s recommendations for approval.

A prolonged debate was heard, with several councillors citing the ongoing cost of living and relatively cheaper price of chicken and eggs compared to other protein sources as one of several reasons worthy of serious consideration when weighing up the proposal and the officer’s recommendations.

Cr Christian Dickson was absent from the meeting after the birth of his child while Cr Joe Natoli stayed out of the meeting and vote due to a conflict of interest having had a long social and sporting association with one of the company directors and their family.

Cr Jason O’Pray — who had voted in support of Mr Baberowski’s alternative motion and then voted alongside him in opposition to the original recommended approval — declared a possible conflict of interest due to his partner’s status as a member of the Animal Welfare Party, but stayed in the room for the debate and vote.

Mr O’Pray’s partner, Tash Poole, had sought election for the party at the most recent federal election in the seat of Fairfax in 2022 and stood for the seat of Maroochydore in the 2020 state election.

Mr O’Pray told the council chamber neither his partner, nor the party, had made any representations to him about the proposal, and he was unaware of any submissions being made to the council about the application, and felt comfortable that he was able to participate in the consideration of the recommendations.

That was supported unanimously by his fellow councillors who voted to allow him to remain in the meeting for that agenda item.

Woodland Enterprises have not yet applied for the environmental license to complete the development.