Opposition mounts to chicken waste biogas plant
Hundreds of objections have been submitted to plans for a facility which would convert chicken waste into gas.
The facility – built next to Moy Park poultry processing plant on Horncastle Road – would use anaerobic digestion to turn 120,000 tonnes of chicken faeces and waste feedstock into renewable gas each year.
While developer Stream BioEnergy says it will provide renewable energy with no impact on homes, locals fear it will bring bad smells, extra traffic and noise.
A date for the final decision has been set for Lincolnshire County Council’s planning committee in May.
The application has attracted large numbers of comments on their website, with many – although not all – opposed to it.
One Anwick resident claimed: “This objection demonstrates that the proposed biogas plant poses unacceptable risks to public safety” and “ignores safer alternatives like Sleaford Moor Enterprise Park.”
A resident who lives on the same road as the proposal said: “Building a plant right next to a residential village is not the right place. It is not an industrial estate.”
Greater Lincolnshire Mayor Andrea Jenkyns has weighed in, saying the biogas facility would “industrialise a rural setting” and should be built on brownfield land instead.
One positive comment was from a Boston resident who said it would “reinforce Lincolnshire’s heritage of more jobs and less emissions.”
The proposals include two 40-metre tall stacks and eight 25-metres-tall digester tanks, where organic material would be broken down into gas and pumped into the National Grid.
North Kesteven District Council said they had serious concerns about the plans in a rowdy meeting last year, as residents frequently cheered or interrupted.
Stream Bioenergy has denied there would be an impact on homes, saying it would employ “a state-of-the-art development with a robust multi-stage odour control system”.
It adds: “A detailed odour assessment completed by an independent expert demonstrates that predicted odour levels at neighbouring properties will be well within accepted limits set for human health and residential amenity.”