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A controversial proposal for a horse crematorium at a farm, near a housing estate in Leigh, has been approved by Sevenoaks District Council, despite 89 letters of objection from the public.
Nearby residents predict they will suffer unpleasant smells and pollution from the proposed facility at Sevton Farm in Powder Mills.
But the council's environmental officer was confident that would not be the case.
A second incineration chamber in the burner, he said, would destroy any odours or particulates - just as at a human crematorium - leaving only the natural gases from combustion to escape via the flue.
Speaking for the residents, Clive Reading said the scheme was unacceptable - it was a "noxious industrial use" only 65m from the nearest house in Hunters Seal.
He said it would compromise residents' quality of life and subject them to an eight-hour mechanical drone whenever the crematorium was in use.
But the farmer and applicant Charles Sparrowhawk said that he had been selling hay to horse-owners for 20 years and he had become aware of the need for the services he was proposing.
He said it would give the owners peace of mind to trust their horse or pony to someone they knew who would treat them with respect and dignity after their death.
He said the farm, which also breeds sheep, as struggling to remain self-sufficient, and warned that refusal would lead to an intensification of other farming practises which might have unwelcome effects for the residents.
Cllr Brett Skipper, for Leigh Parish Council, said the council had concerns for the "emotional and mental health" of the residents. He predicted: "There will be emissions."
He said the development would impact on the Green Belt and the character of the area.
Planning officers said the cremation machine would be contained within an existing link between two barns. There would be no change to the exterior of the buildings other than the addition of a flue.
Mr Sparrowhawk promised there would be no storage of horse remains on the site.
He would personally collect the dead horse from its owners in a covered vehicle, and bring it to the site only if the cremation machine was ready, so that the animal could be loaded straight into it.
He would drive the vehicle inside the barn for unloading, so there would be no chance for anyone off the site to see anything they shouldn't.
Objectors has also raised concerns about delivery vehicles using neighbouring roads, but Mr Sparrowhawk said there would be no changes to the existing access onto Powder Mills and that the 3.5 tonne vehicle used for the horses would be no larger than the farm vehicles already accessing Sevton.
Furthermore, because of the time taken by each cremation - eight hours for the burn - there could be no more than one cremation per day and he anticipated no more than two or three per week.
After seeing videos of vehicles entering and leaving the site, KCC, the highways authority, declared itself satisfied with the access and raised no objections.
Cllr James Osborne-Jackson (Con) said the council should listen to the 89 objectors and said he didn't like the thought of children watching a carcass delivery and asking their parents, what is on that vehicle?
Cllr Elizabeth Purves (Lib Dem) wanted to know why there was no air quality report with the application, but the environmental officer confirmed that the crematorium was too small under existing legislation to require one.
Cllr Perry Cole was concerned that the incinerator might be used to burn two horses at the time, so doubling the amount of any potential pollution.
But the environmental officer said the machine was too small for that unless they were both Shetland ponies - which, he said, seemed unlikely.
Cllr Cameron Brown ( Con) suggested if Mr Sparrowhawk was suggesting no more than three cremations a week, permission could be conditioned to just three days, say Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but Cllr Simon Reay (Con) pointed out "Horses don't die to order."
Cllr Susan Coleman (Con) agreed, saying: "That would just mean there was a dead horse lying around in a field somewhere."
Cllr James Barnett (Con) said he was not keen on the application but struggled to find a planning reason to refuse.
The committee chairman Gary Williamson (Con) proposed the application be approved, subject to conditions that no deliveries or cremations take place outside the hours of 8am-7pm, Monday to Saturday; that a hedge be planted within the site alongside the entrance to the barns, to obscure any view of deliveries from the road and that access to the site should only be via Powder Mills and Leigh Road and not via Burton Avenue, where the main housing is.
After more than 90 minutes of debate, permission was granted with 16 in favour and three against.
It is believed there are only four horse crematoria in Kent.
Planning application 20/02892 refers.
