Wiltshire Council has granted planning permission for a 3240-square-metre RAS facility at Trafalgar Fisheries near Downton, marking the first approved land-based Atlantic salmon farm in England, the Salisbury Journal reported.
Avon Valley Salmon, formerly known as Cold Water Salmon, will develop the project on a 25-hectare site that historically produced trout but ceased operations in 2025. The approval allows the installation of a steel and PVC canopy over existing fish ponds, enabling the use of recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) technology, LED lighting and controlled water conditions.
The permission is subject to a temporary five-year consent, after which the site must be restored unless further planning permission is granted. Initial production is expected to be approximately 240 tonnes annually.
The proposal received more than 1100 objections alongside approximately 70 letters of support. Objectors included the Green Britain Foundation, a charity founded by environmentalist Dale Vince, which raised concerns about the site’s proximity to the River Avon, a protected chalk stream that supports wild Atlantic salmon populations. The charity is consulting over a potential legal challenge.
Wiltshire Council carried out a formal habitats assessment and concluded the scheme would not harm the integrity of the river system, subject to strict mitigation measures. The council’s report noted that many concerns raised went beyond planning considerations, including objections to salmon farming as an industry, animal welfare concerns and wider environmental issues.
Founder Julian Connor, who also founded Swiss Lachs – Switzerland’s first land-based salmon producer – said the project would reduce water and energy consumption compared with the site’s previous use, according to the Salisbury Journal. Planning documents indicate that the existing abstraction licence permits a continued rate of 2000 litres per second, but the RAS system will extract water from a borehole at approximately 47 litres per second. Discharge will be similarly reduced.
The site’s water extraction and discharge are subject to monitoring by the Environment Agency. Solids and particulate matter from filters will be collected and removed for use as biofuel or other purposes.
