In a landmark case recently heard in the French Supreme Court, the Cour de Cassation, neighbours complained of noise and smells from cows in adjacent hangars.

The legal battle has been going on for 14 years, after a farmer in the village of Saint-Aubin-en-Bray (Oise) obtained planning permission to construct two cow sheds measuring 1,200m² and 1,500m². The subsequent total investment by the farmer was over €600,000.

The nearest neighbours to the hangars were under 100 metres away, which required that the farmer had to obtain special dispensation for the construction from the local prefecture, in which he was successful.

Local residents complaining of foul odours and noise nuisance took the case to court, and in 2013 obtained annulment of the planning consent, and subsequently in 2018 a conviction for "abnormal neighbourhood disturbance".

The farmer appealed the ruling but in March 2022 the Court of Appeal of Amiens upheld the conviction and awarded damages of €106,000 to the neighbours.

The outcome was the same in the Supreme Court, with the judges ruling that the activity "exceeded, by their nature, recurrence and intensity, the normal inconveniences of the neighbourhood".

They considered that "the disputed agricultural buildings are (located) in a built-up area of the village and incompatible with the life of the neighbourhood."

In court the farmer stated that he had paid the damages to the neighbours, part of which had been funded by a loan of €40,000 from the local regional council.

The buildings have yet to be demolished and the farmer is hoping that alterations to them will permit him to continue the activity, in which he is supported by the local regional council.

This decision comes three days after MPs adopted a cross-party bill limiting legal similar actions against agricultural activities.

The text aims to provide greater protection for farmers by introducing an exception that relieves the offender of any liability in the development of their activity when the alleged arises from "pre-existing activities" at the time of the complaint.

However, there is already an exception in law for an activity that pre-dates new development, so the impact of the clause remains unclear, assuming it eventually becomes law.

In the recent case the disputed farm buildings were built near existing dwellings.