Members of the Snowdonia National Park Authority planning committee are to visit the site of a proposed huge poultry unit which local residents are opposing.

A total of 130 objections have been received to the plan by G and J Pugh who farm at Ty’n y Pwll, Llanegryn, near Tywyn.

They are concerned about the scale of the 2,700-square-metre building, the increase in traffic, smell from the manure and possible vermin.

Among the objectors are the owners of Castell Mawr, the nearest residential property to the site, which is 85 metres away.

The 135-metre-long shed would accommodate 32,000 free-range hens with access to 40 acres of adjoining land which would return to the shed to lay their eggs. The farm has 2,000 chicken, 500 sheep, and 100 calves are reared through the winter.

In their design and access statement the applicants say the droppings would fall onto a conveyor belt and then taken to a covered store before eventually being spread on the land.

A landscaping scheme has been proposed to reduce the visual impact from the Castell Mawr hillfort, which is a scheduled ancient monument, and CADW have raised no objection.

The park authority’s head of conservation, woodlands and agriculture has voiced concern about the manure management plan, describing it as “vague and lacking in certainty”.

Fifteen letters of support for the scheme were submitted to the authority.

Ty’n y Pwll currently has one full-time worker and the two sons help out. The development would allow one of the sons to work full-time and create two additional part-time jobs.

The planning committee has deferred a decision to enable all members to visit the site.