Green waste biochar plant set to be approved

A plan to set up a plant to produce biochar – a form of charcoal – from green waste has been recommended for approval.

Members of a Shropshire Council planning committee will consider the plans for the site at Ludlow Business Park, off Coder Road, next Tuesday.

The authority is behind the idea as it wants to turn a former anaerobic digester - which used bacteria to break down waste - into a unit producing the biochar.

The idea is part of a £2m investment the council is putting into locally-manufactured biochar-producing plants.

Biochar has been produced for centuries like charcoal, where material is heated without oxygen up to temperatures of 300C or higher.

The biochar will be created from imported green waste, wood, and compost oversize materials.

A planning statement from Tony Higgins at EnviroConsult, which is working alongside the council on the scheme, said dust, odours and noise would all be mitigated.

Objections to the scheme's impact on the environment have come from Ludlow Town Council.

Town councillor Beverley Waite said a survey on birds and breeding was carried out but a better one was needed.

She said there were three sites of special scientific interest in the area, adding: "If there is going to be any environmental damage, we need it to be looked at again."

Other responses included opposition to having a facility in a built-up area, close to homes.

But those backing the plan said the plant would increase Shropshire's contribution to carbon reduction.

Council officials said the emissions allowed from the proposed site were unlikely to be at maximum levels and the potential for odour away from the site was low.

Case officer Jacob Collett said the relevant pollution control efforts would be carried out.

A council report said the combination of harms were not unacceptable or enough to justify refusing planning approval.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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