Feather are being ruffled in a Mearns village, where the constant crowing of cockerels is disturbing the peace.
A poultry enterprise started as a hobby in the centre of Luthermuir has now grown to number around 600 birds an unbearable level, say villagers, who are kicking up a dust over being deprived of sleep.
“The noise can be deafening,” said Councillor Dave Stewart, who lives in the village.
“Everybody is complaining. It’s not just at dawn that the cockerels are crowing. It’s day and night. You can hear them at 2am, 3am, 4am”
The villagers had been hoping for a reprieve with a move of the offending birds to a more distant location.
Luthermuir joiner Mitchell Simpson, who keeps the poultry to the rear of his home, Fern Cottage, on the village main street wants to relocate them to a 12-acre woodland site on its outskirts.
However, a recent planning application for the erection of a two-storey building to house a flat and joiner’s workshop, along with a new poultry rearing and egg production unit for up to 600 birds at Caldhame, was rejected by Mearns councillors.
Planners recommended refusal because the move would breach the local development plan and the presumption against residential development in the countryside.
They also took account of objections from local residents to the move, which raised worries about inadequate drainage, bird waste disposal, noise and smell pollution and an increase in vermin.
The new development was defeated at a meeting of the Kincardine and Mearns area committee by just one vote.
However, Mearns councillor George Carr said: “The vote of 7-6 shows there was considerable support and sympathy for the new enterprise.
“There is no doubt another plan will be back before us in some shape or form.”
Mr Stewart, who also gave his backing, added: “ This would be a new business investment in the countryside, besides being a solution to the problems surrounding the current enterprise.”
The planning service has now received several complaints in relation to the condition of the existing site and it blocking access to the village park.
The poultry cages have been built in woodland next to the local park and villagers say the cockerels’ crowing can even drown out the crowd at the football on a Saturday afternoon.
“You would think there would be some kind of bye-law against a livestock enterprise on this scale in the centre of a village,” said representative Janette Anderson.
In light of the related planning enforcement concerns, planners say they have exhausted every plausible avenue in a bid to rectify the situation, both for Mr Simpson and the community.
Mr Simpson has declined to comment, other than say the plan is back in the hands of his architect.