A contentious puppy breeding farm for the animal experiment industry has been given planning permission by the British government.

UK Communities Secretary Greg Clark overturned a planning inspector's refusal to allow a US-owned company to breed beagle puppies at Grimston near Hull, in East Yorkshire, for use in drug tests.

An appeal against the decision was called in by Mr Clark after a previous application was thrown out by his predecessor Eric Pickles in January 2012.

The new breeding facility, which was opposed by the local council and is the focus of a long-running campaign by animal rights groups, will be Britain's second facility for breeding beagles for vivisection.

It will compete with Harlan in Cambridgeshire to supply the more than 3,000 specially-bred dogs used in UK laboratories each year.

"Lack of compassion, common sense and intelligence"

The UK National Anti-Vivisection Society has condemned the decision to grant permission for the new farm, calling it a betrayal of the animals, the public and science.

"The number of dog experiments has declined substantially over the past 10 years, but this regressive decision could see that positive trend reversed," claimed the group's secretary Jan Creamer.

The farm, owned by Yorkshire Evergreen which is part of US firm Marshall BioResources, is currently used for breeding genetically modified mice and as a transit point for imported beagles.

The company said it will now aim to provide an improved supply of animals to the UK medical research community.

"We very much welcome the sensible decision to grant planning permission for our breeding site," a spokesman said.

A statement issued by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said: "The Secretary of State, Greg Clark, has shown a complete lack of compassion, common sense and intelligence."

"Breeding dogs for experiments supports a shameful trade and is something that belongs in the past, when we didn't know that we had other options."