TV and film actor Dominic West has backed campaigners who are opposed to a large scale pig farm in Derbyshire. West, who starred in US crime drama The Wire, said the facility near Foston would wreck the area, where he grew up.
He believed protesters needed support to fight the interests of big business. Midlands Pigs Producers (MPP) plan for the premises to have 2,500 sows and 20,000 piglets, observing the highest welfare standards.
Mr West, who had roles in films such as 300 and Centurion, said: “My uncle was a small-scale pig farmer of the sort that would be put out of business by huge factory farms like this. My interest in this came through a film called Pig Business about the vast factory farms in Eastern Europe, so I was quite concerned it was coming here to Derbyshire.”
He added: “The protesters here are up against a very big business that is interested in not just pig farming but all sorts of money making ventures.
“So I hope to raise awareness of what is going on and create a bigger amount of support for the locals whose lives are going to be ruined by this.”
MPP produces more than 100,000 pigs each year. It controls 30 farms in eight counties and employs more than 150 people. A spokesman said they welcomed debate on the project but pointed out there was already a unit in the UK containing 3,500 sows.
The site would also use bio-gas from the slurry to produce electricity.
South Derbyshire District Council handed over duties for dealing with the application to the county council because of its waste implications. The county council confirmed it had received the application but that no date had been set for it to be considered.
Simon Pope of the World Society for the Protection of Animals said: ‘We know from America that the real cost of food produced in factory farms is poor animal welfare, pollution and the economic death knell for thousands of small scale farmers.
