Commissioner Susan Dixon gave conditional approval for the developments near Manilla in the Land and Environment Court in Sydney late on Friday afternoon in a 53-page judgement.

The judgement came after a legal challenge to five development applications submitted by Rostry, Baiada’s property arm. 

The large-scale chicken farm developments were approved by Tamworth Regional Council in July, 2014, but the Woolcott Group, a Manilla-based grain company, lodged a legal challenge in the Land and Environment Court to overturn the approvals. 

Commissioner Dixon said in considering all the factors expressed by local residents, as well as the evidence and planning frameworks, significant weight needed to be given to the development's importance in the poultry industry.

"I have decided the available information warrants substantial weight being placed on the development‘s ability to satisfy an identified need of general importance to the poultry industry in the region and nationally," she said in her judgement.

"In forming that view I am satisfied on the evidence that the concerns of the objector and the local residents about odour, road safety, noise, dust, water, ecology, and bio-security are satisfactorily addressed by the conditions of consent proposed by the developer which are supported by the Council."

See the full story in Saturday's edition of The Leader.