Man who said home had been invaded by 10,000 flies told hen sheds on farm near Darlington are not to blame

A MAN who said his home had been invaded by more than 10,000 flies was told there was no evidence linking the infestation to nearby hen sheds.

The owners of Piercebridge Farm, on the edge of Piercebridge, near Darlington, had applied for retrospective planning permission for the three moveable hen sheds after a High Court ruling that such structures require consent.

Six people living in properties neighbouring the field where the free range hens are kept sent objections to Darlington Borough Council on the grounds that they caused an increase in the number of flies in their homes.

Farmer Harry Hodgson denied that his hens or sheds were responsible for the flies and pointed to independent testing and inspections by government and council experts that showed no fly larvae were present on the site.

However, Simon Still, who lives closest to the hen sheds, said investigation by experts he had engaged showed there could be no other source of the infestation.

Mr Still said his home became untenable during the summer months and that he had collected more than 10,000 flies within 52 days earlier this year.

Brian Whelan, environmental health officer for Darlington Borough Council, was asked to investigate the fly problem in Piercebridge and tested faeces from the hen sheds on three occasions.

He told a meeting of the councils planning committee: We did not see any fly activity in the buildings. We took samples and did not find any eggs in those samples.

We gave our findings to the complainants investigator and he looked at them and agreed with our findings.

What is not in dispute is that there is some sort of fly problem in Piercebridge but we have not got any evidence as to why. We will continue to investigate.

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Man who said home had been invaded by 10,000 flies told hen sheds on farm near Darlington are not to blame