Dear John,
 

Hopwood Hall College has submitted a planning application (reference 22/01083/FUL) to allow the running of a public zoo from their 8-acre site in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. The decision process has been moved forward, so we now only have until this evening to reject the plans. 

Therefore, we are urgently calling on our supporters to submit objections via the council form by 11.59pm today (28th November). 
 

The college already runs ‘Animal Management’ courses, using live animals as part of their study modules to provide students with a “hands-on” animal learning experience.

Now they wish to open the doors up to the public outside of study time, providing events such as birthday parties and school visits and “animal experiences”. 

These events are known to cause immense stress to captive individuals and provide very little educational benefit to children or students.

The zoo would see species such as owls, meerkats and flamingos cruelly put on display to attract visitors, and be the first zoo to open in the area for 45 years.

From an environmental perspective, the increased visitor numbers will also create an unprecedented amount of footfall and traffic in a peaceful residential area, causing heightened noise and pollution levels to the surrounding environment.

This appears to have already caused controversy in the local area, with “public” comments being made private due to many neighbours objecting to the plans.

Although we know the disastrous effects zoos have on the animal's held captive within them, sadly, even in 2022, animal welfare and protection concerns are not considered during the objection process, with external environmental factors and residential issues the main topics of debate.

So please, when submitting your objections, focus on the negative impact the public zoo would have on the environment, roads and residential area.

I have written a template email on our action page to help with your objection. Unfortunately, objections must be sent using the councils online form, they will not accept objections via email. 

You can also read more about these plans on our news page here: https://www.freedomforanimals.org.uk/manchester-does-not-need-a-new-zoo

Thank you for taking the time to object to these plans and once again I apologise for the short notice on this action, we have only just been made aware of the change of date.

I will keep you updated on how this campaign goes.

For the animals,


Laura Walton
Campaigns manager
Freedom for Animals