Blog written by Julie Hurst, volunteer blog writer

In a move that’s sadly unsurprising from corporations whose sole concern is profit margin, the British poultry industry has found a way to welfare-wash its way to expansion. If plans are approved, the results will be devastating, not only for animals, but for our increasingly fragile rural landscapes, and the communities who call them home.

The Better Chicken Commitment is enabling the growth of the chicken industry

A recent investigation by Grilled and The i discovered that the industry has submitted applications to build a minimum of 600 new chicken sheds, on new and existing farms, with the collective capacity to house millions more chickens, all under the guise of adjusting to welfare pledges and ensuring future UK food security. 

Planning applications have been filed in multiple counties across England arguing that in order to maintain current production levels whilst meeting the criteria of the Better Chicken Commitment  - that recommends more space per housed bird (roughly 14 chickens per square metre instead of 17)  - farms need more room. However, analysis of these applications found that far from maintaining current production numbers, the proposed extra capacity would allow for the production and slaughter of almost 17 million more chickens per year. 

Whilst companies are using their compliance with the BCC pledge as reason to grow their site capacity, the scheme is voluntary and doesn’t have any enforcement mechanism, so once the farms are built, there’s no reason to expect that these extra-space conditions would even be adhered to.

New farms will negatively impact the environment

Not only is this devastating news for an unimaginable number of chickens, yet to even be born, but this level of industry expansion is a huge environmental and human health issue too. Chicken farms at their current capacity create huge amounts of air, soil and river pollution that are a genuine danger to health for anyone living within close proximity to these sites. Ammonia emissions – linked to severe heart and lung conditions – have already surged in certain areas linked to megafarms that supply Tesco, M&S, Aldi, McDonald’s and Nando’s. The celebrated Wye Valley is a prominent example of the impacts of industrial farming, with the River Wye being devastated by pollution to the extent that it’s now the centre of largescale legal action. 

UK chicken production has grown 20% since 2010, and consumer demand has increased 4.5% in just the last 12 months. Whilst this demand continues to grow and there is profit to be made, the industry will respond accordingly and can easily validate their desire for expansion with the argument that UK-bred chickens are preferable to an increase in imported meat, particularly as conversations around UK food security are making their way into mainstream media.

It’s frightening to discover that due to heavy lobbying from the British Poultry Council, our government are aligning with this stance, and at a time when environmental protection should be forefront of our minds, our leaders are considering changes to planning rules to make it more difficult for local councils to block plans for new intensive chicken farms  - including making it harder to refuse based on environmental concerns. 

We’re in the midst of our third heatwave of 2026 and Europe is heating at double the rate of the rest of the world. Around 2,700 people in England and Wales died of heat-related causes in the May and June heatwaves, and at the time of writing, there are 19 wildfires active across the UK. Animal Agriculture is one of the top contributors to climate breakdown – responsible for more emissions than almost any other industry as well as being the leading cause of deforestation globally, mass biodiversity loss, and as previously mentioned, responsible for mass water, soil and air pollution. 

Welfare commitments will result in more animals being exploited and killed

We desperately need to change the way we eat. Far from allowing a powerful industry to welfare-wash its way to expansion, our leaders should be issuing urgent guidance to steer people away from animal products and towards more animal, people and planet-friendly plant-based diets, alongside issuing help for farmers and creating a just transition into plant-based farming, or more sustainable uses for their land. 

As things currently stand, a problem with welfare campaigns is starkly highlighted. When dealing with an industry that cares only about profit, and whose interest in the welfare of its victims extends only to how it can be framed to mislead customers, compliance with campaigns such as the Better Chicken Commitment, as well as the Cage Free Commitment for eggs, will be spun to enable expansion, and far from reducing suffering, will actually increase it for an even greater number of innocent beings.

As always,

For the animals.