SIR - I was horrified to read that Malvern Hills planners have approved plans for a pig farm at Broadwas.

Not only is the intensive factory farming of animals abhorrent to any civilised person with an ounce of compassion, but pig farms are renowned for the devastation and destruction that they wreak on the environment.

Just look at the US - whole parts of Texas and the south have been taken over by huge multi-nationals involved in the production of pork. Miles of open land have been laid to waste, whole communities uprooted and driven out and traditional methods of farming destroyed and consigned to history, while the the water system is fast giving out.

These hog farms have created a wasteland - the environmental destruction is irreparable. Rivers are polluted because slurry has contaminated water systems, huge lagoons of effluent lie stagnant; not to mention the stench that can be smelled for miles around (and which can cause asthma, sickness and skin rashes). Do we want this to happen in our countryside?

Animals kept in these conditions have a terrible 'life' full of suffering. The meat produced is high in fat (due to lack of exercise) and full of antibiotics and hormones used to try to stem disease created by keeping animals in these conditions.

This is the truth of pig farms. Do the people of Broadwas and Cotheridge really want this to happen? I suggest that they speak out now before it's too late.

MISS L BONOMINI,

Malvern.