Plans to bring more than 60,000 chickens to a Weald village saw residents flock to protest this week.

Fridays Ltd wants to build a hen house on 32 hectares of farmland in Horsmonden in a £2.2 million move described by critics as industrialisation of the countryside.

More than 100 people attended a display of plans at the village hall, in Back Lane, on Wednesday, with dozens of members of Save The Weald handing out leaflets and holding up placards.

Graham Fuller, free-range farms manager for the company, said the display was unprecedented and came following a large number of objections.

He said: “The point of the day is to make people clear about what the plans are. So far, everyone I have spoken to has left feeling better than when they arrived.”

The application for land at Pullens Farm, in Lamberhurst Road, has so far attracted 200 objections.

Wendy Writer, who lives next to the site and was one of the only residents initially consulted on the proposal, said: “This isn’t a farm, this is a factory. It is industrialisation of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

“This does not benefit Horsmonden at all, there are no guarantees the jobs will go to local people, and the traffic on Lamberhurst Road is already a big problem.”

Diane Lemerle, another neighbour, said: “I have visited Tolehurst Farm in Frittenden with Fridays. I left feeling worse than when I arrived. The smell and noise were overwhelming. The farm here is meant to be modelled on Tolehurst, which is very worrying.”

The 260-metre building will house 64,000 chickens and be one and a half miles from the village. It will create two full-time and four part-time jobs.

“The point of the day is to make people clear about what the plans are. So far, everyone I have spoken to has left feeling better than when they arrived.” — Graham Fuller, Fridays free-range farms manager for the company

Residents have been assured the five lorries serving the site every week will avoid the village. However, there are no guarantees that the two tractors removing waste from the farm will.

The controversial application is the latest in a series of moves by the poultry giant to expand across the Weald.

Fridays has already been granted permission to extend at Combwell Farm in Goudhurst, and Tolehurst Farm in Frittenden.

The existing farms will go from housing 77,180 and 39,000 birds to 172,180 and 57,000 respectively, and residents of Horsmonden fear similar expansion will take place at the Pullens Farm site.

Mr Fuller said: “The free-range market is growing by 5% every year and we need to meet the demand

“We’re always looking for appropriate sites and will not purchase land without having a good chance of developing it."

A spokesman for Fridays said: “In addition to the application site, Fridays owns a further 9 hectares adjoining it but, importantly, has no plans to develop that land.”

Planning permission is not needed to house chickens in mobile units on arable land, and keeping anything up to 40,000 birds requires no permit at all.

However, due to the permanent nature and size of the proposed £2.2 million Horsmonden building a full application is necessary.

Mr Fuller added Fridays would not consider using mobile units as it is not good for the chickens or productivity.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has set a provisional decision date of Friday, August 14.

To view the application, go to bit.ly/fridaysfarm