[From Paula Pinkney]
Dear Paula and other Kingscote Residents,
Just to fill you in on the proposed plans for an Anaerobic Digestor at The Old Dairy Chavenage. This will impact on the Kingscote community in that it will generate a large number of HGV lorries and large tractor/trailer traffic travelling to and from the Old Dairy via the A46 and the Calcot crossroads. Gloucestershire Highways themselves have estimated this as an HGV lorry every 6 minutes at peak times. We have not yet been told where all the input material will come from and so it may also mean traffic travelling between the plant and Wotton-under-Edge and beyond.
If you share our concerns, please let Stroud Planning know by emailing planning@stroud.gov.uk Remember to give your own postcode and to make clear which proposal you are referring to.
We feel very strongly that this is the wrong plant in the wrong place for the following reasons.
- The government give very generous grants (feed in tariffs) for Anaeorbic Digestion (AD) units in order to encourage farmers generating animal waste (poultry, pig or cattle manures and slurries) to use this waste to generate gas and electricity. However, there are no animals at Chavenage and so this proposal will depend on maize and other crops grown at Chavenage and two other farms at Rodmarton and Tetbury Upton. Maize requires large amounts of energy to grow it (some studies suggest more energy is required than the energy that can be generated). It is a very bad plant for biodiversity, wildlife, soil erosion and flooding (it is an RSPB ‘sink crop’). It also leaves the ground as ugly bear stubble from October to May. In August and September, the height of the mature crop means walkers will not be able to see over it to enjoy their rural views. This plant alone will convert up to 1,000 acres of Gloucestershire farmland that currently grows a mix of barley, wheat and oilseed rape to maize, dramatically changing the look of the countryside. This plant will set a precedent. If it is passed, it will be harder to refuse others. In Germany, where similar grants were offered, vast areas have been converted to maize production. Is this what we want for the Cotswolds?
- Anaerobic Digestion produces a waste product (digestate) which can be spread on agricultural land, but there are strict limits to how much can be spread per acre and what times of year it can be spread. For every 100 tonnes of material in, approximately 80 tonnes of digestate will be created. This is fine where the input material is animal slurry as it reduces it in quantity. However, when the input material is crops, this process which is designed to USE waste, actually GENERATES a waste product. The Chavenage plant will produce more waste than they can safely and legally dispose of on their own land and it is not at all clear from their proposal how the excess will be transported away from the farm and/or stored before it can be legally and safely spread elsewhere.
- The traffic generated is inappropriate in terms of both size of vehicle and number of movements for the single lane access road which will link the AD unit to the A46. The wheelspan of the vehicles is wider than the road in many places and will inevitably lead to further breakdown of the road edges. The passing places are too narrow to allow large vehicles to pass side by side. Even the ‘normal’ farm traffic will increase by between 5 to 7 times as the total tonnage per acre generated by maize is approx 30 – 40 tonnes/acre compared to maybe 5 – 6 tonnes for barley, wheat or oilseed rape, including their straw. Tractors travelling from maize fields spread far far more mud on the road than other crops because the harvest exposes the soil, because far more loads are required per acre, and because it is harvested in October, one of the wettest months of the year.
- The crossroads at Calcot and the junction at the A46 are already dangerous and this increase in traffic will make them more so. PLEASE NOTE ANY EXAMPLES OF ACCIDENTS OR NEAR MISSES AT THESE JUNCTIONS WILL HELP OUR CASE.
- There is no evidence that there are any benefits from this development, either to the local community or to the production of sustainable energy as it will depend largely (if not entirely) on growing energy hungry crops on good agricultural land. It does not use unwanted farm waste, no extra jobs will be created and the majority of the economic benefit will leave the county as the plant is run by a large conglomerate of speculative investors. All energy will go directly into the national network or grid with no provision of cheaper/greener energy for local residents. Gloucestershire tax payers and road users will be left to pick up the bill for road improvements and the inevitable regular repairs as wide, heavy vehicles travel on a road that is not fit for purpose. Finally, as less than a third of the input material is generated from Chavenage, there is no reason why this plant should be sited here rather than on a more appropriate brownfield site.
If you would like more information, you can find all the planning documents and the objections online at www.stroud.gov.uk/planning Reference: S.14/0673/FUL
Best wishes
Jenny Stuart
07974 179364
Jenny.stuart@keystone-group.co.uk