"I found the claimants' witnesses to be honest and straightforward. All were thoughtful, and with the possible exception of Mr Price-Jones who was against battery hens on principle, they were not so bound up with the problems that they gave untruthful or exaggerated evidence."
"45. I now pass to smell. The defendants say that in view of the opinion expressed by Mr Danks in paragraph 56 of his report, there is no evidence to support a claim for nuisance based on smell, but that ignores the battery of witnesses who gave evidence for the claimants, all of whom complain bitterly and in graphic detail about the smells that were coming from the defendants' premises. Mrs Piper said that the smell problem started in about 1993. She has described it as a strong chicken manure smell. She said it was nauseous, and although it depended on the wind direction, it could last sometimes for days. She said it was too unpleasant to go out in the garden sometimes, and it would get onto the washing. 46. When the defendants started to use the area known as Pets Hotel for the disposal of carcasses in pits, the stench of decomposing flesh came onto the claimants' land. Her diary shows smell being recorded as a problem from late 1995 into 1996. Throughout 1996 into 1997, particularly bad in the summer months. 1998 is the same, with particular emphasis on the summer months. In 1999, again September was a very difficult month, as was also December, and the year 2000, with emphasis on May, July and September. Rotting carcasses from the pits on several occasions in the latter period are said to have triggered the complaints. Since then she says matters have got somewhat better, but still, when the manure lorries go out unsheeted, they are affected by the smell. 47. Mr Piper agrees with his wife. He says it is really no different now to what it was in the past. It depends on the direction of the wind. He says the smell is a mixture of corn, manure and air from the poultry houses. He says it is very unpleasant. You cannot enjoy the property in a proper manner, and it is necessary to close windows and you can only spend sometimes an hour at most outside. 48. Mr Clark, he too made complaints about smells since 1995, particularly bad, he says, in August 1999. He said when it sticks it is necessary to close all the windows, otherwise it invades the house. He described the smell as one of decay mixed with the smell of chicken feed. He said it is now pretty much as it was before, and in addition to the smells which are taken on the wind to his house, he was able to tell me about the really nasty smell which he said came from the Pets Hotel site. He said that when he travelled past in the car he had to hold his breath, and even there he was candid enough to say that he had not smelt that for the last month or so. 49. Mr Shrubshall said that when the wind is from the southwest, it carries the smells from the defendants' site to his house. He described them as, 'Very unpleasant. We have to keep the windows and doors shut to keep it out.' He says he has been complaining since 1995, and he says it has been the same really over the last two years, with the smell nuisance occurring three or four times a week. 50. Mr Lawrence was a naval officer who moved to Clouds Hill, just north of the defendants' site in 1997. He says that the smell is a persistent problem, although it varies in intensity, with the wind and cloud cover. He described it as a mixture of chicken feed, bran and manure. Also on occasions, he said, you could smell rotting carcasses. He also said it is much the same now as when he made his statement last year. 51. Mr Price-Jones told me of the smell of rotting material, especially in the summer months. He said it was intense and overpowering; it catches you in the back of the throat. He said you cannot sit outside in the garden in the summer. He accepted that his own stock would generate some smell, but he was quite sure that the smell from the defendants' site was so distinct that there was no confusing the two."