Residents battle quadruple double-decker digester plan
HARDWICK residents have until Tuesday 22nd November to voice their objections to an industrial composter they claim to be four times the height of a double-decker bus and which they describe as "monstrous".
Acorn Bioenergy Ltd has submitted plans to build a 16.5m-high anaerobic digester plant on greenfield farmland in the ancient parish of Tysoe in an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and site of historical importance.
The plant in Hardwick would convert crops, such as maize and ryegrass that do not grow well locally into biogas.
David Roache, long-time resident and chair of Tysoe Parish Council, said the application, which is one of 15 planned across the country, was "entirely opportunistic and wholly inappropriate for this rural setting".
He said: "If approved it would be a blight on the landscape and wreck arguably the finest views in Warwickshire from the AONB across the Vale of the Red Horse.
"The disruption, pollution and danger caused by the huge volume of heavy traffic into and out from the plant would be hugely damaging to the local community and environment."
Campaigners against the proposal estimate there could be around 15,000 extra traffic movements per year associated with the digester, with around 100 per day (1 every 4 minutes) at peak harvest times, including HGVs, tankers and industrial sized tractors with trailers, choking the rural road network.
"Productive land is a valuable resource, not to be taken out of use lightly; it is ideal for producing cereals, now in short supply due to the war in Ukraine," Stop Hardwick Energy campaigners said.
Anaerobic digestion is ceasing to be seen as a viable way forward both as an energy resource and as a reducer of greenhouse gases. Biomethane is not zero carbon like wind or solar power.
Acorn, which has no track record in this field, says the digester would produce enough gas to heat 8,000 homes, though no homes in the vicinity of the proposed site are connected to gas.
"Far from being the "green" proposal that Acorn says it is, this is the wrong proposal in the wrong place," Mr Roache said.
Anne and Peter Hepworth, a retired couple who have lived together on the Tysoe Road for nearly 50 years, overlook the entire AD site. “We worry about what’s going to happen if this is built. We just don’t know what effect it will have. We have always been so happy here. It’s very stressful and we don’t use the internet so it’s hard to keep up with what’s going on. No-one from Acorn has ever been here to speak to us about the project and we are upset that we cannot fight it.”
Residents have until Tuesday 22nd November, to voice their objections to Stratford upon Avon District Council planning department. The Stop Hardwick Energy campaigners have produced a comprehensive website: https://stophardwickenergy.org/ . It explains in detail why the proposed anaerobic digester site is so bad for the community and the local environment and has all the information about how to object.
Stratford upon Avon District Council has until 3rd January, 2023 to make a decision about the application.
