Opponents kick up a stink as biogas plans approved

A councillor has warned a biogas plant approved for a Lincolnshire village will be a "disaster" for nearby residents, as an angry protester was removed from a meeting after repeatedly interrupting proceedings.

Stream BioEnergy UK Ltd was given permission to build on land west of the existing chicken processing facility in Anwick, near Sleaford, with planning conditions receiving final approval on Monday.

The development will process up to 120,000 tonnes of chicken waste and other material each year to produce biogas.

The firm said it had worked closely with Lincolnshire County Council and had "robust controls" to protect residents' quality of life.

During Monday's council planning committee meeting, a man in the public gallery repeatedly shouted he was "disgusted" by the decision and described the scale of the scheme as "unthinkable" before being escorted from the chamber.

At one stage he called out: "Can you look people in the eye and tell them they won't be affected by the smell?"

The project was backed in principle by the committee last month, with members signing off on the final planning conditions on Monday.

Speaking after the meeting, Councillor Mervyn Head, who represents the village, said: "I still believe it's in the wrong location. It's not a good day for Lincolnshire.

"It will be a disaster, particularly for the people living closest.

"No matter how good you are at controlling smell, it's never 100%. Anaerobic digestion plants always leak."

He later told the BBC: "The issue is people in Anwick already have the odours, noise and traffic from the existing Pilgrim's Europe factory (formerly Moy Park).

"That's a fact of life and there is an odour issue quite regularly from that factory," he said.

He said the new anaerobic digester plant would bring its own problems with odour, along with increased traffic into what was "effectively the heart of the village".

"The whole thing for me has been a complete farce from start to finish," he added.

Stream BioEnergy said the scheme would reduce HGV movements through the village by about 50,000 a year by allowing chicken waste from the neighbouring factory to be processed on site.

Plans include eight digester tanks, each 25m (82ft) high, about 200m (656ft) from the nearest homes. The developer said landscaping would help screen the site and that odour would be tightly managed.

The company said the £115m investment would support the county's agri-food sector, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

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