Plans for a large and controversial plant at a Herefordshire farm to dispose of chicken waste has been revised after county planners said problems with it were “insurmountable”.

A bid submitted over two years ago (222728) by Nicholas Layton proposed the anaerobic digestion (AD) unit at Whitwick Manor between Hereford and Bromyard.

This was to take in about 100,000 tonnes of poultry manure a year from the area's farms, along with other food and farming waste, generating enough natural gas to supply about 6,000 homes.

RELATED NEWS:

The bid also sought permission for feedstock storage clamps, tanks, lagoons and a wetland filtration system and connection to the national gas grid, together with solar panels on buildings, a grain store and dryer, and new road access onto the A417.

It has since drawn nearly 240 objections from the public, with concerns over traffic, water and air pollution, impact on the landscape, and smell.

An analysis by Herefordshire Council officers in January concluded that there would be “an adverse effect on the integrity” of the protected river Wye catchment, and that planning permission “CANNOT legally be granted”.

What are your thoughts?

You can send a letter to the editor to have your say by clicking here.

Letters should not exceed 250 words and local issues take precedence.

Highways engineer Katy Jones said the plan would give rise to an average of 96 lorry trips per day, and that the proposed road access “isn’t large enough”.

And senior landscape officer Mandy Neill earlier said the scheme “will not integrate into the surroundings” due to its “large-scale industrial appearance”.

But now a letter to planning officer Rebecca Jenman from Mr Layton’s agent dated October 4 asks that the scheme be reconsidered in light of changes to it.

According to the agent, Ms Jenman had previously said preparing further documents would not be a “worthwhile exercise” as officers’ concerns “were not surmountable”.

OTHER NEWS:

But he asked that nonetheless she now “re-consult and then determine the application”, claiming the main issues over transport, drainage, landscape, ecology and heritage had been addressed.

A “rebuttal” to the council’s habitat regulations assessment has also now been submitted, along with a restatement of what the applicants claim are the wider benefits of the scheme.

Comments can still be made on the plans via the council’s website.