A former Dargaville deputy mayor says a poultry giant should be given a chance to build a massive chicken farm if it consults with the community and mitigates environmental effects.
Tegel Foods wants to set up a broiler chicken farm capable of stocking up to 1.3 million chickens, and locals are keen to know what smell and noise it might generate.
The poultry company wants to buy more than 250 hectares of land at Arapohue, just outside Dargaville, and erect 32 sheds housing the chickens which will be transported to Tegel's processing plant in West Auckland.
The new venture is expected to create 28 jobs.
Former Kaipara deputy mayor Richard Alspach had not heard of Tegel's plans but said the proposed chicken farm was a "massive enterprise" and the public needed to be consulted.