[author]Steve Spencer[/author]
An unauthorised 2,000-hen poultry farm which sparked numerous complaints from neighbouring landowners at Cudgen has been ordered to shut down by the NSW Land and Environment Court.
In August, Tweed Shire Council voted to shut down egg farmer Dean Sikiric’s operation after he constructed two huge sheds on his property without lodging a development application. Mr Sikiric had plans to increase his flock of fowl to 12,000 just before council mounted the court action.
The court has ordered Mr Sikiric to remove the birds by the end of this month and sheds by the end of next month and pay council’s legal and court costs.
Neighbours had complained about continuous pollution, noise and foul odours. They also said the operation was polluting nearby waterways, with dead birds reportedly scattered around the property and red sludge found in a nearby dam.
A council report at the time said the Mr Sikiric did not not live on the property and ‘does not have to endure the daily impacts’ of the pollution which neighbours must endure ‘all day, every day’.
Council staff said they warned Mr Sikiric face to face and over the phone that council approval would be needed to set up the poultry farm, but he ignored them and built the two large sheds.
