Council officers recommend refusal of controversial biogas plant for village
Officers are recommending county councillors refuse plans for a controversial biogas plant for a village near Sleaford.
Stream BioEnergy UK proposes to build a biogas plant on land to the west of the Pilgrim’s/Moy Park poultry processing factory at Anwick, supplying biomethane to the national gas grid.
It would convert 120,000 tonnes of poultry manure and agri-food waste annually into biomethane which would be pumped into the National Grid. A new shared road link through to the Moy Park factory from the A153 is predicted to reduce HGVs coming into the village by more than 40 per cent, as the vast majority come from the west. This equates over 65,000 truck movements in and out of the village per year.
In addition, 1,500 trucks per year will be removed from the main road as a result of the ability to send waste directly to the biomethane facility through the shared access.
The remaining waste would be recycled into around 100,000 tonnes of biofertiliser for farmers each year, saving millions on imported fertilisers, according to predictions in supporting documents.
However a large number of Anwick villagers, and the parish council, have objected to the plans.
Now, following consideration of policies and comments received, council officers are recommending that planning permission be refused when councillors on the Planning and Regulation Committee meet on Monday, May 11.
They argue that the development, by size and design, would result in "industrialisation of the countryside with significant adverse harm to the landscape character”.
They add that it would also affect the nearby historic Haverholme Priory and Park Lane, and could result in “unacceptable adverse impacts on amenity for the occupants of nearby dwellings”. This relates to odours, despite Stream BioEnergy insisting that all feedstocks would be handled inside an enclosed building with robust multi-stage odour control including washing down vehicles indoors.
They say the emission chimney stack height has been increased to 40 metres as a further safeguard.
Local district councillor for the Kirkby La Thorpe and South Kyme ward Mervyn Head welcomed the news, saying: “This is the right decision to protect the residents of Anwick from the risks associated with this proposal.”
Anwick resident campaigner Maureen Corbett insisted the proposal was “blatantly in the wrong place from the start”.
Stream BioEnergy would not comment on the recommendations ahead of the committee.
However, in its proposals it had pledged £115 million capital investment, £35 million of that being local, generating around 100 direct jobs and 140 indirect jobs during construction, followed by 30 direct and 75 indirect local jobs during operation. It estimated £3-4 million spent annually on haulage, maintenance and farmer payments, as well as £1.6 million per year paid in business rates.
A £50,000 annual community fund had also been offered by Stream BioEnergy for local amenities.