Concerns over bio-fuelling site for lorries

A local councillor is opposing plans to build a bio-fuel filling station for lorries in Wiltshire, raising concerns over traffic, flooding, and the potential environmental impact.

Swindon Borough Council's planning officers have recommended the approval of a bio-compressed natural gas refuelling station for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) on Purley Road, near Wanborough.

The proposal has faced resistance from Wanborough and Liddington parish councils, several residents and ward councillor Gary Sumner.

"We have a duty to conserve and protect the area of outstanding natural beauty on the national landscape and this is riding roughshod over that," said Mr Sumner.

CNG Fuels wants to build a refuelling station that would operate around the clock, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The station would have 12 bays for HGVs, fuel dispenser islands, a plant compound, two electric vehicle parking spaces and newly-surfaced roads.

The proposed site lies within the North Wessex Downs National Landscape and has previously been used for a temporary compound, but Mr Sumner said this does not justify it becoming a permanent site.

"The principle of turning what is in reality greenfield land, which had a temporary use as a compound, into an industrial axle fuelling station within a national landscape is still wrong," he said.

He also raised concerns about flooding and requested the application be called in for full committee discussion.

CNG Fuels has argued the facility aligns with the UK's strategy to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

The firm said the biomethane on offer at the station was "100% renewable" gas produced from food, water and animal waste and would provide a "sustainable" fuel for freight companies.

Floating wetlands, new trees and other landscape features would also reduce the site's environmental impact, CNG Fuels added.

Planning officers who recommended the application be approved said the support the site would provide for "local and national" net zero strategies are "in the public interest" and "outweigh" the disadvantages of it being located in the countryside and national landscape.

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