I am writing to voice my concerns over plans to build an anaerobic digestion plant directly behind our small hamlet in rural south Lincolnshire.
Tongue End is situated in one of the last stretches of “big sky” fens in the area, and the proposal for an eight acre industrial site to be situated 330 metres from people’s gardens will have an enormously detrimental visual impact upon the whole area.
The planning application states that views would be transient, as though no-one lives here and, therefore, it would have no effect on the quality of people’s lives.
The blight from the smell would render houses unsellable and gardens unusable.
The plans have hidden the fact that food waste will be used as well as crop waste, which is actually not waste but grown specifically to feed the plant.
No mention has been made of the considerable increase in heavy vehicle traffic, either in Deeping St Nicholas, where the site entrance will be located, or at the exit in Tongue End/Pode Hole.
I am asking the council’s planners officers and councillors to consider whether this site is remotely viable, and whether they will hold strong to the promise to refuse more development within the area.
If there is a need for a waste plant to create methane gas for feeding into the national grid, then surely it would be better sited at the proposer’s farm, with the pipeline extended, not miles away down single gravel tracks which lorries have to negotiate.