Relief and reaction as plans for huge industrial composter in south Warwickshire are withdrawn

VILLAGERS have let out a collective sigh of relief after plans for an industrial composter four times the height of a double-decker bus were withdrawn.

The threat of a “scar on the landscape” had hovered over the parish of Tysoe and nearby villages for two years after Acorn Bioenergy Ltd submitted its plans – a 16.5m-high anaerobic digester plant on farmland.

But, as reported by the Herald last week, the application to Stratford District Council has been withdrawn.

District councillor Malcolm Littlewood (Con, Tysoe) said he was delighted and added it had become clear the application would have been refused planning permission.

“I would like to thank the wonderful team of people in Tysoe, led by Cllr David Roache, whose energy and expertise were essential for this positive outcome,” he said. “Whilst there is undoubtedly a value to these digesters, they need to be built in the right locations with suitable road infrastructure and this was not one of them, the disruption and scar to the landscape would have been enormous.”

The application, in an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, was met with enormous opposition with more than 1,400 people signing a petition against the plans.

The plant would have converted crops, such as maize and ryegrass, that do not grow well locally into biogas.

Cllr Roache, long-time resident and chair of Tysoe Parish Council, said that the main objections were the irreversible harm it would do to the surrounding landscape and the congestion, damage and pollution that would be caused by transporting 92,000 tons of crop feedstock to the digester around harvest time each year.

He added: “There was also significant concern over the fact that the gas produced in the plant would have to be transported by road to Banbury.

“No discernible benefit to the surrounding community could be identified that might offset the undoubted harm that the plant would cause.”

Campaigners against the proposal estimated there would have been around 15,000 extra traffic movements per year associated with the digester, with around 100 per day (one every four minutes) at peak harvest times.

At the time of the application, Acorn Bioenergy Ltd said the digester would produce enough gas to heat 8,000 homes, though it was pointed out by protesters that no homes in the vicinity of the proposed site were connected to gas.