TWO farmers in Melksham have spoken out after people living near to their farm raised concerns about a new ‘digester’ they are planning to build.
Tom and James Stainer, who own and run Snarlton Farm, to the east of Melksham, have spoken in defence of plans for an anaerobic digester – a machine that converts farm waste into renewable fuel – on their land.
Last week local people wrote to Wiltshire Council to complain that the application would be a ‘serious threat to the area’, a source of ‘foul odours’ and tractors and lorries visiting the site would make Sandridge Road more dangerous.
The brothers say the digester – to be based between woodlands off Sandridge Road – would use up slurry that is currently spread on open fields, would produce substantial amounts of green energy and would reduce the need for them to use artificial fertilisers and chemical sprays on their land. They said the manure that would be used is currently spread on farmland around Melksham and they are ‘aware of the methane smell’.
The brothers commented, “An anaerobic digester stores these gases in a sealed container to be used as a renewable gas for up to 2,400 homes, which produces a much more odourless product known as digestate, that can be spread on the farm land replacing artifical fertiliser with an organic based one.”
An odour assessment carried out for the planning application said, “the digestion of cattle slurry is significantly less odorous that the existing practice of storing slurry in pits.”
The assessment predicted that at eight specific locations nearby – including Forest and Sandridge School – the odour “would not be detectable”.
Residents were also concerned about traffic; the plans predict that up to 12 large vehicles could visit the site per day, but claim that would “not have a material impact on the safety or operation” of Sandridge Road.
A resident said, “We are extremely concerned about the safety of slow moving vehicles pulling out onto the very busy road. There have been a number of serious accidents along the road […] It seems ridiculous to add more traffic”.
The Stainer brothers say they ‘completely understand’ the concerns and add, “The access has been used by large and slow farm vehicles by ourselves for more than 20 years and by others many years previous. To date, we have had no complaints.
“We have consistently used our access by the layby at times of harvest, silaging and manure spreading, with more traffic movements than what is being proposed by the farm digester.”
Melksham Without Parish Council will discuss the application at a public meeting on Tuesday 21st February at Forest Community Centre from 7pm.
To see the plans in detail go to www.wiltshire.gov.uk and enter reference 16/12469/WCM in the planning search.
