Plants like this create biomethane, CO2 and biofertiliser. The first two are odourless gases.

The biofertiliser produced by the process comes in solid and liquid form and is stored onsite in fully covered and sealed tanks, unlike many older plants. As only a small portion of the silage clamp is open for feeding there should be no odour detectable away from the site. This is borne out on all our other sites many of which have neighbours much closer than at this proposed location.

There is very little odour linked to the process as we use energy crops rather than waste materials.

There would be some noise related to the transport of fuel crops to the site, and the removal of CO2 and biomethane by road. There would be up to half a dozen or so employees on site at any given time during the working day.

Any equipment likely to generate noise would be specially housed, and local and national regulations and guidance followed.

AD plants are not typically associated with noise nuisance and an independent acoustic assessment would be submitted to the local authority with any planning application.

Not at all. Although the gas is pumped into the mains supply, our actual customers are businesses and other large organisations who need to lower their carbon footprint. So they commit to buy an amount of gas which we then supply to the network.

We receive no subsidies from any source, and our neighbours’ energy bills will not be impacted by anything we do.

Meridian Biogas have an agreement in principle to lease the site for 30 years, after which the plant would be either upgraded, re-purposed or decommissioned.

Future Biogas is a very experienced operator of biogas plants with an exemplary safety record. The company currently operates 12 plants similar to this proposed site around the UK.

All Future Biogas plants contain fire suppression equipment as standard.

All of our plants also have sophisticated lightning protection systems that meet the British Standard 62305 and will be regulated by the Health and Safety Executive.

Biomethane production is a continuous process, but staff will be on site between approximately 7am to 7pm, with possible extended hours at harvest time.

The bioenergy crops grown for Meridian Biogas will be grown as break crops as part of a sustainable food crop rotation (around 1 in 5 crops grown for energy, staggered over multiple fields), which enhances overall productivity.

We would support farmers in the transition to more regenerative land practices, aligning with agri-environmental policies and encouraging custodianship of local soils.

The plant will provide local farmers with the opportunity to diversify crop rotations and will support the investment needed to transition towards sustainable farming practices.