PIG breeder David Bowling has appealed against Wigan Council's refusal to allow him to build an extension to house an extra 100 sows at Landside Farm, Leigh.
A local Inquiry at Leigh Town Hall on Wednesday heard it was a legitimate request for Green Belt zone use. But the application had aroused a protest by nearby residents who feared intensifying the operation would create a problem with increased smells.
Mr Bowling, who took over Landside Farm in 1990 and runs a multi-site operation which involves exporting 2,000 sows a year to France , said pigs had been bred on site for over 40 years.
That was before houses had encroached nearer to the breeding, farrowing, and rearing buildings on his four acre site.
He said:"I can't put up a building within 400 metres of homes - yet developers were allowed to build only 70 yards away from the farm buildings."
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