Seems there are further problems at Crouchland Biogas, W. Sussex.  Actress Julie Walters has now condemned an anaerobic digester close to her organic farm in the little village of Plaistow in West Sussex where residents have been campaigning for many months. Although initially welcoming the creation of a biodigester using agricultural waste she has recently launched a blistering attack.

read the Mail on Sunday article:

What they had thought would be a small farm operation turned out to be an industrial-scale business, bringing in frequent daily deliveries of waste and chemicals.  This week, local anger over the plant intensified when effluent from a storage lagoon on the site seeped into local streams, killing fish and forcing farmers to move their livestock.

Now Ms Walters, 66, has launched a blistering attack on the company’s behaviour.

She told planning officers: ‘The biodigester has been erected dishonestly and with cynical disregard for the local people, the environment or the outstanding beauty of the area. Trees are dying around it, wildlife is drowning in its lagoons and people can’t sit in their gardens for the stench.

‘The lanes approaching it are simply not equipped to deal with this degree of heavy traffic.’

The operator, Crouchland Biogas – one of whose directors is Angus Cameron, a cousin of the Prime Minister – receives a taxpayer-funded subsidy campaigners estimate could be as much as £5 million a year.

Crouchland is now locked in a planning battle with West Sussex County Council, which has refused to give retrospective planning permission after the plant exceeded its permitted size.  Enforcement notices have been issued and the matter will be decided by a Government planning inspector at a two-day hearing in May.

Mr Roffey said: ‘The initial planning permission in 2007, which everybody supported, was based on it being a small dairy farm with a slurry problem.  But through the back door they have turned it into a huge industrial gas plant. It’s disgusting that it has been allowed to continue operating.’

Crouchland managing director Leon Mekitarian said: ‘We create enough clean energy to power nearly 4,000 homes and created over 20 jobs. Last week we sadly experienced an effluent spill from one of our agricultural lagoons. We are working closely with the Environment Agency to reduce the chance of this happening again.’

A report from August of an AD plant in Consett, County Durham that “left residents in a stink after a summer-long stench blighted neighbours”;  one resident saying residents had been made prisoners in their own homes with smells from a storage lagoon.

From Chronicle Live by Will Metcalfe 21 Aug 2015….

The anaerobic digester, based on the Thomas Swan site in the town, went live in March this year producing energy by processing silage and harnessing the by-products.

However, materials had been stored at the site for almost a year before the site was put into use and Hallwick Energy, the firm behind the scheme, said the material had began to decompose resulting in a foul smell.

And the mum-of-three, who lives in nearby Newbell Court, said she has spent her summer indoors as a result of the smell.

Ms Fernandez said: “I can’t open the windows, I’ve not been able to go in the garden.

“It’s disgusting.

“Part of the submission when this went to planning said there would be a bad smell for one day a year but this has been almost everyday since it started running.  We’ve put up with it for a long time.”

Ms Fernandez, who runs a dog grooming business, said she repeatedly raised concerns but Hallwick Energy failed to take action.

She added: “They invited us down but to me, I don’t want to know how it works. I feel like they have fobbed us off.  Everybody who lives in this area is experiencing the same problem.  The smell has been so bad you couldn’t open windows, it has stopped for now but I am worried it will start again when it gets hot.”

The firm invited residents to the plant and is now confident the problems have been eradicated and pledged to keep an open dialogue with anyone who has taken issue with the plant.

A statement from Hallwick Energy said: “The odour issues at the anaerobic digestion plant were caused by effluent run-off from the silage clamps that had degraded in the lagoon over a long period.  Under normal operations this liquid is constantly recycled but because there were crops stored onsite for nearly a year before the plant became fully operational the liquid was just sitting in the lagoon.

“As summer came and the weather warmed up this material further degraded and produced unpleasant odours. The lagoon was completely emptied and the material disposed of off-site.  On emptying the lagoon, a tear in the liner was discovered which would also have contributed to the issue, so the liner was completely replaced.  The complaints from locals have fallen dramatically since the lagoon was emptied.

“Complainants have been invited to visit the plant to see how the process works, what caused the problem and what has been done about it. Several residents have taken up this opportunity.  We will continue to monitor the situation, keep the local community informed and continue to do all that we can to make sure the plant doesn’t cause any further nuisance.”  ChronicleLive Aug 2015

 

Communities secretary Greg Clark has refused permission for an anaerobic digestion plant in at Fletcher Bank quarry in Greater Manchester, ruling that the proposed development would constitute inappropriate development in the green belt.

Energy firm Peel Environmental Services had appealed Bury Metropolitan Borough Council’s decision in March 2014 to refuse planning permission for the construction and operation of the anaerobic digestion plant at Fletcher Bank Quarry in Ramsbottom.

The proposed development would have taken up to a total of 45,000 tonnes per annum of waste, comprising by-products from the food industry together with select agricultural wastes, to generate heat and electricity. The facility would have been temporary, linked to the life of the adjacent quarry which expires in 2042.

Following a public local inquiry, held earlier this year, inspector I Jenkins recommended that the appeal be dismissed. In a decision letter issued this week, the communities secretary agreed with the inspector’s recommendation and dismissed Peel’s appeal.

Clark concluded that significant weight should be given to the renewable energy benefits of the scheme and that the “locational and economic benefits of the scheme should be given moderate weight”.

But he agreed with the inspector that the proposals would conflict with the aims of the National Planning Policy Framework and would not amount to sustainable development.

His note concluded: “Taking all of the benefits of the proposed development into account, the secretary of state concludes that the harm to the green belt has not been clearly outweighed, and that very special circumstances do not exist to justify allowing the inappropriate development.”  Jamie Carpenter Planning Resource 27th Nov 2015

 

Buyers and sellers of properties around Twemlow Green will be interested to see that Cheshire East Council have finally published the ‘Decision made’ and the Refusal Notice for a proposed AD plant nearby.  Turned down in August 2015 the application was deemed “an unacceptable land use for this site”….. “Given the close proximity of sensitive receptors and the nature of the development”.

The EA had refused a Permit in July 2014 after concerns with the site being too close to homes.

12/0705W

2015 Refusal notice 07738119

Scientists at Rothamsted Research and the University of Milan, Italy, have examined the effect that mechanically separating anaerobically digested cattle and pig slurries into their liquid and solid fractions during storage has on ammonia and greenhouse gases emissions.

Livestock slurry is valuable source of free, organic fertiliser, which farmers can spread on farmland. However, gases which can be lost from slurry, during collection, storage and spreading, are of environmental concern.

A main finding of the research, which is published in the Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment journal, was that storage of the separated fractions of pig and cattle slurries increases nitrogen and ammonia emissions, compared with unseparated pig and cattle slurries.

The proposal for an AD waste and power plant on Twemlow Lane went to the Strategic Planning Board [SPB] in Crewe on 26th Aug and was refused by 10 votes with 2 abstentions; a great relief to residents living with the threat of a huge industrial AD plant near to their homes since Feb 2012.

Sandbach Chronicle 3rd Sept 2015

Knutsford Guardian front page 2nd Sept 2015

Councillors felt this was the right time to make a decision as “residents deserve an answer”.  Cllrs voiced various concerns  including the EA Permit refusal and the added doubt over the 60 year old tanks not being designed to be gas tight.  One councillor voiced his own experience of AD plants having a “hideous smell”.

The applicant, Chairman of NFU Cheshire, avoided the chairman’s question on why he didn’t want an AD plant on his own farm to deal with his slurry by replying that he was “not compliant with slurry storage regulations but that 90% of farmers aren’t compliant either”.

Over the 3 and a half years since the application was first lodged there have been 6 failed versions/updates of an Odour Management Plan with the Environment Agency concluding that smells could not be mitigated so close to homes.  The applicant’s view that it would benefit residents is complete make-believe as the electricity generated would be fed into the national grid – but he would’ve benefitted from the large subsidies [paid for on the public’s energy bills !].  Instead, residents would have had to suffer the “hideous smells” that foodwaste AD plants can also generate.

Councillors said that if the EA changed their opinion then the applicant could re apply if he put together a full Environment Impact Assessment.

Strategic Planning Board: 26th August 2015.

Cheshire East Planning has recommended refusal for the proposal for a 46,000 tonnes AD Waste and Power Plant in Twemlow, ref 12/0705W.  The application, first proposed in February 2012, is to come before the SPB onWednesday on 26th August; also recommended for refusal by CE’s Environmental Protection department and refused a Permit by the Environment Agency in July 2014 it would predominantly be for foodwaste as well as slurry, chicken manure and maize.

Can you attend?

10.30am Weds 26th August 2015, Strategic Planning Board, see AGENDA

at Council Chamber, Municipal Buildings, Earle Street, Crewe CW1 2BJ. View directions

Twemlow AD Plant on the agenda for Strategic Planning Board on 26th August 2015.

Cheshire East have now scheduled a committee date for a decision by the Strategic Planning Board [SPB] on the proposal for a 46,000 tonnes AD Waste and Power Plant in Twemlow, ref 12/0705W.  The application, first proposed in February 2012, has been recommended for refusal by CE’s Environmental Protection department and was refused a Permit by the Environment Agency in July 2014.

The EA’s Planning Liaison Officer stated, “The environmental impact of the proposed development in this location cannot be satisfactorily mitigated in this location due to its impact on sensitive receptors.” 8th July 2014

– see Environmental Health recommends refusal, and the Environment Agency permit refusal details.

Too close:

The proposed site is immediately next to homes along Twemlow Lane and Goostrey Lane [40 homes within 200 metres].  The application would be to import 47,000 tonnes per annum of foodwaste, slurry, poultry manure, maize and grass and export 42,000 tonnes of digestate.  Anaerobic digestion would produce a biogas (60% methane) to power 2 units that would generate up to 1.2MW of electricity for sale to the national grid.  The scheme would also receive subsidies from the government (funded by tax and higher electricity bills).

I thought you might be interested in signing this petition calling for supermarkets to give unsold food to charity [France already does this].   Across Europe over 80 million people live below the poverty line and yet food waste is thrown away every day by supermarkets.  The petition has so far over half a million signatures;  a new EU directive would also have the effect of reducing the flow of edible unsold food from supermarkets to landfill and AD plants.

Stop food waste in Europe: read the petition.

Sign the petition