Anaerobic digester update!
The digester is now operating at about 40% capacity, and will gradually increase to 100%. The initial commissioning and “getting up to speed” should be finished by about mid-February, and there will then be a further testing period lasting perhaps three months, at or near full capacity.
Several residents had noticed a strong smell coming from the plant a few days before Christmas, and the matter was taken up with the operators by the Environment Agency. Apparently the smell was caused by excess gas that would ordinarily have been burnt off, but which had to be vented due to technical difficulties during the initial firing up process. The operators assured the Liaison Committee that the circumstances of the venting were exceptional, and were extremely unlikely to happen again.
Traffic. The operators state that with the plant operating at 40%, there are only on average 4 lorry movements in and 4 movements out each day. Shortly before Christmas a local resident reported a lorry from a recycling company using Woodbury Road outside the permitted hours, and the operators took this up with the company, stressing the requirement to avoid the restricted times. They believe that all their suppliers are now fully aware of the time restrictions. Lorry movements in connection with the Digester are only permitted along Woodbury Road between 0700 and 0815, 0900 to 1500, and 1545 to 1800, Monday to Friday (ie avoiding the times when children are going to and from the school), and 0800 to 1300 on Saturdays. If anybody thinks they see lorries using Woodbury Road outside the permitted times, please let me or Councillor Terri Reid know; we need date, time and the company name – you’ll appreciate that many lorries apart from those connected with the Digester use Woodbury Road at all hours, so a company name is vital to establish whether the lorry in question is connected with the Digester.
Traffic safety. Some residents had raised concerns about the safety of children playing on the land adjacent to the mini-roundabout at the junction between Beggarwood Lane and the road over the motorway to Farleigh Wallop. The Hampshire County Council representative on the Liaison Committee raised this point with her colleagues in the Highways Department, who don’t consider the Digester traffic makes any material increase in any risk associated with that mini-roundabout, but they said “if this issue (ie the perceived risk to children from traffic at that roundabout) is an on-going concern, then the provision of a fence around the verge could be investigated.” Councillor Terri Reid is investigating whether this can be funded by either the County or the Borough.
Lighting. Hampshire County Council are requiring changes to the lighting the operators have erected at the site, which is considerably in excess of what was given permission for in the planning consents.
If anyone wants to report any “out of hours” lorries, or raise any other matters, please contact me or Terri Reid;
Sam Weller samthetax@yahoo.co.uk
Councillor Terri Reid terriellizabethreid@gmail.com
