East Yorkshire Beagle Breeding Farm Gets Approved

Animal rights campaigners have strongly condemned a Government decision paving the way for a beagle farm'' facility breeding dogs for laboratory experiments in East Yorkshire.

Local Government and Communities Secretary Greg Clark stepped in to back a planning appeal allowing the controversial scheme to go ahead in Grimston.

The proposal to create an enclosed facility housing 200 beagles and 180 puppies, as well as ferrets, had previously been turned down twice after fierce opposition from anti-vivisection campaigners and local residents.

But now Mr Clark, who was science and universities minister before the general election, has exercised his legal right to intervene in a local planning dispute and allowed the latest appeal from Bantin & Kingman Ltd (B&K Ltd).

Currently dogs are brought to the facility to prepare them for scientific experiments, but no breeding takes place there.

Michelle Thew, chief executive of Cruelty Free International, formerly the BUAV, said the anti-vivisection group was deeply disappointed'' by the decision. She added:

The planning application to expand this facility has been an issue of strong public concern as is using dogs in research. This is a sad day for animals and, as a result, thousands of dogs will now be bred at Bantin & Kingman and be supplied to laboratories across Europe to suffer and die in experiments.''

Dr Julia Baines, science policy adviser at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) said:

It is appalling that, despite objections from over 35,000 Peta supporters, the Government has disregarded the opinions of both the public and local authorities and condemned thousands of dogs to be caged, harmed and killed in experiments by accepting a proposal to build a new beagle-breeding facility, which was originally rightly rejected by East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

The Secretary of State, Greg Clark, has shown a complete lack of compassion, common sense and intelligence. Breeding dogs for experiments supports a shameful trade and is something that belongs in the past, when we didn't know that we had other options.''

Cruelty Free International said it had successfully campaigned against two previous applications to build the breeding facility in recent years. On each occasion the proposal was rejected by East Riding Council.

The second rejection was initially upheld by the former Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles in 2012. However, after the application was amended, Mr Pickles agreed to look at it again.

The final decision, taken after the general election and the appointment of Prime Minister David Cameron's new Cabinet, fell to Mr Clark.

Cruelty Free International's director of policy Nick Palmer said the organisation was taking legal advice. Legally the move can still be challenged in the High Court on the basis that the Government has acted unreasonably.

The decision to allow the proposal is understood to hinge on a letter from the Home Office advising that the dogs might be at risk of infection if kept outside and not in an enclosed building.

Penning beagles outside would not be acceptable on planning grounds because of the noise nuisance to local residents.

We've yet to see the Home Office letter,'' said Mr Palmer. The logic of the Home Office position is that nobody should ever let their dogs out because they might catch a bug.''

B & K Universal say the Government decision to approve beagle puppy farm for animal tests, is a "sensible decision". David Gatehouse is from the company and told us:

"We very much welcome the sensible decision to grant planning permission for our breeding site, based on the merits of the proposals within planning law.

"However, we are disappointed that it has taken so long for the right outcome to arrive. It has now been almost two years since the application was submitted. We applaud the secretary of state for not being distracted by the misleading arguments of animal rights groups during the Planning Appeal process."