Comment for planning application SCC/0045/23SE

12 Aragon Road

Impact on human rights: Loss of rights to peacefully enjoy their property. The residents of haverhill have a human right to be able to peacefully enjoy their property. If this development goes ahead many residents will lose this. People will not be able to enjoy their gardens, even open the windows in their home, or go out for walks in the local area. This will be due to the extra noise, pollution and odour from the site. If people stop using the outdoor area available to them this may start to impact peoples mental health. One of the coping mechanisms MIND also give out to people to help cope with their mental health is to go outside and be in a green space and spend time "bringing nature into your every day life" for the people of Haverhill this would simply become impossible, there is already a nice duck pond on the housing estate near by but with the extra pollution and smell this would become unusable for many residents, either with lung problems or simply unable to stand the smell. Many news articles about bio digesters already running the residents state they cannot have windows open, as the smell makes them feel physically sick, causes their nose and throats to feel a burning sensation. (The links for these articles will be provided later in the text) I feel the council has a duty of care to all residents of Haverhill to protect our human rights, and to try and preserve the health of Haverhill residents. https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/nature-and-mental-health/how-nature-benefits-mental-health/ The smell- From the anaerobic biodigester sites that already exist it is becoming clear that odour is an issue. There are lots of news articles available, they all read the same despite being indifferent parts of the country. The residents who live near the sites are complaining about the terrible smells, how they can no longer have their windows open, and go out in the local area. The process of anaerobic digestion will be enclosed therefore odour from that may be low - but not completely lacking odour. There is also the odour caused by the storage of the product to be digested- so chicken litter and farmyard manure will definitely have a smell, it will not be transported to the site in an air tight container and stored in such, this will definitely smell. There has been an independent review of the odour that was commissioned by the owner of the epicenter their report showed that Acorn has only provided one assessment of odour which is mainly based on professional opinion. The independent report shows that the report Acorn have provided you with regarding the odour is insufficient and cannot be used as an accurate representation of how bad the odour will be. The companies ALL state their in company propaganda and planning applications and even to the news companies that there is no smell. This simply cannot be true. If there is truly no smell, then why are all these people who live nearby complaining? People just want to live peacefully and be able to use their home and garden without having a constant unpleasant smell, some of the people have said the smells have made them feel physically sick, made their eyes and throat burn, and greatly reduced the quality of their life. They ALL state it's constant smell, it's not a normal farming smell, it's far worse, and that despite reporting it to company no improvement has been made. the below is just a handful of the articles available, all from different areas of the country, but all with the exact same issues, all with the company behind plant claiming their is no smell: https://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/18233295.councillors-call-anaerobic-digester-close-odour-pollution-reported/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv240e5044xo https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/real-life/village-smell-bad-people-cant-27772709?utm_source=linkCopy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar&fbclid=IwAR2sCRqRoNvtCJA0rpHjS5PVg9fzhiAJd_DVA56ywNG9Erk8Q83RUSoLYeo https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/fear-putrid-vile-smell-made-3436624?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target https://www.ballymenaguardian.co.uk/news/2019/01/17/gallery/residents-complain-over-foul-odours-from-plant-2904/ Employment - the site will only create 5 jobs for the town. It will be 5 low paid jobs, they may temporarily create more jobs in the construction phrase however they won't be given to builders from Haverhill, it's a specialist waste site it's going to be given to big national contractor and specialists in the field therefore the only realistic jobs that will be given to people from haverhill will be the 5 low paid jobs. Reading through some of the objections already placed, a company in the Epicentre has already said they will be likely to leave if this application is granted, due to the impact it will have on their office. If more businesses follow suit this would render the 5 jobs created redundant as more than 5 people will have lost their job, or left Haverhill. After all who would want to sit in a restaurant garden that smells. Who would let their child be in a nursery all day if it smells and they have to breathe increased levels of Co2 from the 148 extra lorries thus increasing their risk of developing asthma and other breathing problems? I as a parent would not consider sending my child to a nursery so close to biodigester. Especially not after the explosion at the one in the Oxford either who wants to worry about their child dying in an explosion every time there is a storm? People will be more likely to avoid the businesses entirely causing them to close down or move. Output & lack of benefits to Haverhill-- I accept that we should consider alternative energy supplies. Acorn has advised that the plant will produce: 17,400 tonnes biogas, 27,100 tonnes natural gas, 24,000 tonnes liquid petroleum gas - however, none of which will be used locally, nor will we be recieving any money off our energy bills for inconvenience of having to live with the site. The single and only output/benefit for our area will be the spent digestate from the composting process for the 16000 acres of Vestey owned farms. The gas will be transported by road to the national grid injection point in Milton Keynes. Even then this will only be enough to power under 8000 homes, yet it will affect 10,000 homes in Haverhill where the residents are unable to fully use gardens and due to excess pollution and bad odour. The government has also set out in its long term plans in their heat and building strategy that they will be reducing the use of gas to power homes and that newer homes have to be fitted with heat pumps and there are plans for a Boiler Upgrade Scheme plus promotion and incentivisation of the use of heat pumps - basically from 2025 the government is planning to ban natural gas in new build homes, and from 2035 all newly installed heating systems will have to be low-carbon, for example heat pumps, which effectively bans gas boilers. So this means that Acorn's statement that the AD plant will heat over 7,000 homes every year will be increasingly redundant. So by 2035 haverhill will be stuck with an AD plant which will adversely affect Haverhill and be a cause of greater pollution do far more damage to the planet through excessive CO2 emissions, methane leakages (as mentioned in first objection methane leakages are common place in these developments) as well as making the people sicker through lack of green spaces, and less likely to be able to work through pollution caused health problems or job loss coupled with potential lack of investment.