Great Bowden: Fears green biogas plant will 'stink out' area
BBC
30/01/2024
Plans to build an anaerobic digestion plant at a former mushroom farm at Marigold Farm, off Welham Way, near Great Bowden, by Great Bowden Green Energy Ltd are not going as planned.
Villagers are opposing the plan for a complex in Leicestershire that would create biogas out of chicken manure.
Neighboring residents say that they feared the plant would "stink out" the area, as reported by the BBC.
The firm has then told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that it took residents' concerns seriously and wanted to meet to discuss them.
The firm would be performing a process called anaerobic digestion to make biogas. Anaerobic digestion is a green energy process that ferments raw materials, or feedstock, in a large, airtight tank to create biomethane and CO2.
In this case, the applicant is proposing to use a mix of poultry manure, straw, and maize.
Chris Attenborough, a spokesman for a group set up to oppose the scheme, said residents were not against the production of green energy but the proposal was a "clear-cut case of the wrong place".
He said: "People across Great Bowden and Market Harborough are hugely concerned about this impact this could have."
He then continued to say campaigners had seen "countless" reports of "similar plants" which "absolutely stink out the areas they are based in".
Mr Attenborough said there were also safety concerns about the number of heavy goods vehicles taking chicken waste, as well as maize and straw, to the site.
In documents lodged with a planning application to Leicestershire County Council, the firm said the plant would provide renewable gas directly into the National Grid.
It said: "The anaerobic digestion process is, as the name indicates, carried out in the absence of oxygen and, therefore, there is no odor released during the production of the biogas."
The tank and storage would also stay closed as much as possible to reduce exposure to oxygen.
The company said there would be a maximum of 52 two-way heavy goods vehicle (HGV) movements per day - 26 in each direction - during the busiest 30 days of the year.
For the rest of the year, there would be about 22 two-way HGV movements per day.
Great Bowden Green Energy Ltd is owned by GMT Biogas, which said it would like to meet the objectors to discuss concerns "face to face".
GMT Biogas technical director Phillip Greenaway said: "GMT does take all of the concerns raised by the local community very seriously."
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