Comment for planning application SCC/0045/23SE

Bumblebee Cottage 1-2 Hollow Hill, Withersfield CB9 7SH

Dear Sir I write with reference to planning application SCC/0045/23SE for the construction and operation of an anaerobic digestion facility, associated infrastructure and new access road, connecting pipeline and covered digestate lagoons by Acorn Bioenergy Limited and the Thurlow Estate. As a resident of Withersfield who lives on the corner of Hollow Hill (Silver Street) and Skippers Lane, I am truly horrified at the prospect of this development. My family and I chose to move to this area during the Covid epidemic from busy Bucks on the outskirts of London. Our reason for choosing this location was its country/rural location and all the health and wellbeing benefits that accompany it. Having been here just over two years, and having invested considerably making our house our home, I am terrified of the impact this development would have on our family, from a quality of life and potentially financial perspective. It's difficult to put an order to my objections as they are all so very real, therefore I would ask you to consider them all equally rather than in the order I've written them. Firstly, there is the traffic. Every aspect of this development is flawed in terms of the impact that the increased HGV traffic will have on Withersfield, Haverhill and the surrounding area. The National Planning Policy Framework Paragraph 113 states "All developments that will generate significant amounts of movement should be required to provide a travel plan, and the application should be supported by a transport statement or transport assessment so that the likely impacts of the proposal can be assessed." I have been unable to find evidence of this report in the (copious) information supplied with this application. In fact, the application seems only to mention some of the traffic that will use the A1307 and makes no mention of the vast quantity of farm vehicles that will be required to transport the crop and feedstock required to feed the Digestor. Nor does it detail that a considerable proportion of the produce (ie manure) that will be required to feed the digestor will also be trucked in from beyond the local area. The information provided as part of the application goes on to state that the description 'farm vehicles' also includes HGV's! Whilst the details of the 'farm track routes' have not been stated, it is obvious that almost all of them will be required to dissect Withersfield on their journey to the digestor at its proposed location. It is also stated that these vehicle movements will follow the patterns of the harvest. Whilst each parcel/region of the Thurlow Estates 16000 acres is harvested at different times, ALL of it will be required to be transported either through or directly around Withersfield, with likely dramatic increases in traffic along both Skippers Land and Silver Street - both roads struggling to cope with the volume of traffic already using them. I also point out that Withersfield has no footpaths and thus the impact of this increased traffic brings real danger to those walking or riding along these roads. Ultimately, my home will become blighted by the noise, pollution and interruption associated with the increase in farm (HGV) traffic running by our door. Already, the majority of the 'Jellycat' lorries fail to navigate the turn into Silver St and thus we are regularly disturbed by the beeping of reversing lorries trying to correct their turn! This will be increased exponentially if the proposed development is allowed to take place. One of the driving forces behind our choosing Withersfield as a home was that it offered village life and community. It still has a country pub, the White Horse, located across the road from our home. We are all aware of the pressures on publicans and the number of pubs that are closing day in day out. The pub is one of only two communal hubs in our village (the other being the church) and the proposed farm traffic carrying feedstock and sileage to the digestor will run right by the pub. This will fundamentally change the experience of sitting in the beer garden on a summers day (during the harvest) and this ultimately risks the viability of the pub itself, which holds numerous events for the community within its grounds. This brings us to the issue of smell. Withersfield lies directly in the path of the prevailing wind which will carry any smell from the digestor straight across Withersfield and Haverhill. Whilst Acorn claim there will be no smell, the facts cannot be overlooked. There is hardly an AD plant in the country where local residents have not had problems with odour. In the North East an operating company was recently fined 26,000 after failing to remedy the issue of smell over a period of many months. There are other reports of residents near other plants being unable to sell their properties. These are not 'whispers or gossip', they are factual accounts of problems directly attributed to AD plants. The process of anaerobic digestion creates methane - it will smell! Next we look at the Haverhill Vision for 2031, which highlights the area which the AD plant would occupy as an 'opportunity to improve the gateway into Haverhill at the Spirit of Enterprise roundabout'. How does an industrial scale waste treatment plant, the biggest proposed in the country, welcome people to Haverhill? It is virtually across the road from the EpiCentre, a location that attracts STEM businesses into the local area partly due to the direct links to Cambridge (which will be affected due to traffic. The developers of this site and occupiers (CodiKoat Ltd) of this building have formally expressed their objections to this plant and clearly stated that it's construction will likely mean they will relocate their businesses - meaning the 5 long terms jobs proposed by Acorn will be dwarfed by the number of lost jobs in the local area. No doubt, tenants of the EpiCentre choose to occupy the building due to the wonderful country views they have from the building over the Stour Brook, much the same as those enjoyed by my family and many others when using the footpath from Withersfield to Haverhill across the Stour Brook and wetlands. The proposed site is not designated as industrial in the local plan and is prone to annual flooding, both natural and controlled. The applicant is promoting the location, which covers the Stour flood plain and Meldham Wash Lands, as Zone 1. However, a significant part of the proposed site, including the entrance route, is clearly determined as flood zone 3. The Wash Lands, which encompass the application area, were constructed to protect Haverhill from flooding following the disastrous floods of 1956 which engulfed the town. Since talk of this development back in September 2022 this area has flooded no less than 5 times that I'm aware of. Today, the entire proposed site is under water! This raises two very key concerns. Firstly, where does all this excess water go when the entire area is filled with a concrete raft on which the plant is built, especially given its proximity to a housing development (The Aboretum). Secondly, and of much more concern to me, is what will be the effect and impact of all the stored manure and digestate etc being washed into the Stour flood plain and Meldham Wash Lands? There are numerous proven health risks associated with digestate entering the water table and this cannot be allowed to happen. The National Planning Policy for Waste, Appendix B part C states: Considerations will include (i) the potential for design-led solutions to produce acceptable development which respects landscape character; (ii) the need to protect landscapes or designated areas of national importance (National Parks, the Broads, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Heritage Coasts) (iii) localised height restrictions. The proposed site covers green belt land and the Haverhill 2031 Vision states clearly that we should conserve and enhance the Meldham Marshlands greenspace. Further, Withersfield is a conservation village and thus should be protected from such developments on its boundary. The entire area of and around the proposed site is simply entirely unsuitable for such a development, of any scale. The poor attempts by the proposer to suggest new planting will shield close to 20m high development (16.5m on top of a significant raised concrete pad) is simply ludicrous. This development will blight the landscape and change it forever - of that there is no doubt My final point is to highlight the extraordinary calamity, which is Acorns proposal document. It is a copy and paste job no doubt used aross their multiple applications for such developments throughout our country (despite their never having operated one!). Their own application states "The application site is located in a rural setting on the outskirts of Haverhill, the town centre of which is approximately 3.8km away by road". This statement is completely misleading because: The site is 600m from a major housing development in Haverhill - The Arboretum The site is less than 600m from Haverhill's premier office complex - The EpiCentre The site is 650m from the Sainsburys super store The site is on the edge of Withersfield, a conservation village The site is within the Haverhill Town boundary which is the worst connected town in the county and the fastest growing town in Suffolk Their own documents further make reference to the site being in close proximity to the A43 - this runs by Silverstone in Northamptonshire! Ultimately. For all the reasons above and for the sake of my family and our local community I implore you to reject this application. It will have a disastrous impact on the fastest growing town in Suffolk (Haverhill) and Withersfield and directly and significantly impact the lives of so many for the reward (yet unproven) of so few. Kind Regards Justin Byrne 1-2 Hollow Hill, Withersfield, CB9 &SH