Bio-waste plant gets green light (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Bio-waste plant gets green light

4:00pm Monday 30th January 2012 in News By Simon Moss

An artist's impression of how the waste digester will look

A WASTE digester will be built to the south of Basingstoke – despite concerns about a rise in heavy goods vehicles travelling down rural roads.

Carousel Renewables Ltd has won planning permission for the construction and operation of an anaerobic digestion facility at the Carousel Dairy, at Manor Farm, Farleigh Wallop.

The plant will be fed with around 40,000 tons of organic waste each year – 30,000 of which will be imported to the site. It produces a bio-waste fertiliser, which would be used on the Portsmouth Estate farmland.

More than 350 people signed the ’Say NO to the Farleigh Wallop Waste Digester’ petition last year. Among concerns was that it would create an expected 21 extra lorries per day going from the A30 to the proposed site across the M3.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough councillor Terri Reid, ward member for Hatch Warren and Beggarwood, said she was particularly concerned about the school crossings and the safety of children.

Cllr Reid attended the decisive meeting of Hampshire County Council’s regulatory committee on January 12 to put the case of residents forward. However, county planners sided with the applicant.

After the decision was made, Cllr Reid told The Gazette: “Not many people objected to the anaerobic digester itself. It is more the traffic impact it will have, particularly on the number of heavy goods vehicles coming through.”

However, Cllr Reid said a liaison committee made up of schools, councillors and residents will be formed allowing anyone with concerns about the application to raise them.

She added: “Although we were not able to stop it going through, we will be able to make sure it is monitored carefully and then we can report back if the impact is not as low as the developer says it is going to be.”