Farmer Has To Curtail His Cocks!

What a crazy society…..A farmer has been warned to keep his cockerels quiet or pay a £5,000 fine because a new neighbour complained about their crowing.

Paul Haworth, of Battlers Green Farm, has been warned that one  neighbour had made "a number of
complaints" about the four prize bantam cockerels disturbing his household's sleep.

After using microphones to monitor the
noise, Hertsmere Borough Council issued Mr Haworth with a noise abatement notice and told him to
silence the birds by August 20 or face a £5,000 fine.

Efforts to put up a new hedge to muffle the crowing and find the three-year-old birds a new home have failed.

Mr Haworth said: "It's impossible to stop them from making noise. I don't know what more I can do. If they cannot be re-homed I fear they will have to be put down.

"I find it surprising that someone who does not like animal noises buys a house next to a farm.

"If you didn't like the sound of church bells you would not buy a house next to a church, and if you didn't like the sound of trains you would not live by a railway.

"I think this person must be a recent arrival to the village, probably from a town or city.

"If they don't like it, they should go away. Maybe they prefer the noise of traffic?"

Battlers Green Farm is a working farm which raises beef cattle and arable crops on the outskirts of rural village of Radlett, Herts.

Mr Haworth said this was the first complaint he had ever received in 20 years of keeping roosters and chickens, who were a huge hit with dozens of visitors.

"It seems a bit of a kill-joy thing to complain, especially as they didn't approach me about it first.

"Dozens of neighbours have come to me and said that the roosters are a nice reminder of living in the country.

"I am very disappointed that one person can wield so much power over the council."

Hertsmere Borough Council confirmed it received a complaint in February, saying the cockerels crowed in the middle of the night, seriously affecting quality of life.

Councillor Jean Heywood, the Hertsmere cabinet member for the environment, said they had sympathy for both sides of the case.

"It is reasonable for a cockerel to be crowing on a farm. I think if it was just as the dawn rose for a short time then it wouldn't be an issue," she said.

"But in this case the problem is continuous crowing for hours at a time throughout the night and this isn't reasonable.

"Noise nuisance can be a real blight and affect those who are suffering from it."

Hertsmere Borough Council denied they had ordered Paul to get rid of his roosters or destroy them.

A similar thing happened in Normandy, France a few years ago…..because of the influx of Parisians buying second homes there and the money they spent….The mayor wrote to all the farmers asking them to clean up their farms, stop working through the night and put their “muck heaps” out of sight…..Needless to say it was ignored…..Well it is France…and he wasn’t elected again!!!!