Kenysham biogas plans receive hundreds of objections
It means the idea for a renewable energy plant in the green belt will almost certainly be refused
Controversial plans for a massive biogas plant in Keynsham’s green belt look almost certain to be refused after hundreds of objections.
Giving a damning verdict, Bath and North East Somerset Council planning officers said the renewable energy scheme at the 11-hectare former Queen Charlton Quarry would actually increase carbon dioxide emissions and send dozens of HGVs onto unsuitable roads every day, risking head-on collisions.
Resourceful Energy Anaerobic Ltd’s (REAL) plan is to build an anaerobic digester plant capable of processing 92,000 tonnes of food waste and crops a year – nearly four times the size of a facility approved in 2014 that was not built in line with the planning permission – capable of generating up to 2.2megawatts of energy.
The application has been met with 847 objections and just 10 letters of support.
Campaign group Protect Our Keynsham Environment has warned that the scheme would permanently alter the green belt landscape, create noise and smell and potentially harm residents’ health.
Parish councils across the district objected. Publow with Pensford’s said the application would create ecological damage, congestion and pollution, adding: “This plant is inappropriate development in a totally unsuitable location in the greenbelt.”
Experts at BANES Council agreed with the assessment.
Highways officers said there could be up to 143 HGVs using the roads a day for eight weeks during harvest time and a lack of detail in the plans meant a severe impact on the roads could not be ruled out, with the potential for head-on collisions.
The council’s ecologist said the lighting would cause unacceptable harm, and the development was deemed inappropriate in the green belt without very special circumstances to justify it.
REAL claimed the scheme would save more than 6,000 tonnes of CO2 every year but planning officers said it had omitted the 81,000 tonnes of CO2 that would be emitted during its construction that would take 24 years to offset. REAL has claimed the “carbon payback” period in only 6.5 years so there would be a net saving for the rest of the facility’s 25-year lifespan.
Anaerobic digesters macerate feedstocks into a “soup” that is digested to generate gas and electricity, with the by-products reused.
REAL’s plans propose using up to 25,000 of food waste, with the rest made up of purpose-grown crops such as maize. However, the officers noted that the district’s food waste is already sent to a digester in Avonmouth so would not be “diverted from landfill”, as had been proposed.
They said the 2.2 megawatt capacity would contribute two per cent to the council’s renewable energy target currently facing a significant shortfall but found the proposal “will not save more emissions from renewable energy generation than it creates from its annual operation alone”.
Recommending refusal, they said: “There are no material considerations, including public benefits, which outweigh the development’s numerous and substantial conflicts with planning policy, indeed a number of material considerations, including the development’s questionable carbon emission credentials, weigh against the proposal adding further weight to the case to resist this development.”
Planning committee members will consider the recommendation on March 9.