A public meeting will be held in Keynsham next month to garner support for the ongoing campaign against plans for a large anaerobic digester facility at Queen Charlton Quarry, near Keynsham.
Developer Resourceful Energy Anaerobic Limited (REAL) are appealing against the unanimous decision taken in March by Bath & North East Somerset Council’s planning committee to refuse the bid to increase capacity at the site from the previously approved 25,000 tonnes of organic materials or feedstocks per year to 92,000 tonnes.
The waste-to-power plant scheme was refused on the grounds that it is not a suitable site for such a large development; would harm road safety and severely impact the road network; would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt and would harm the openness of the Green Belt because of land raising; it would also harm protected species, as well as vulnerable people in terms of noise and air quality; and could impact on the proposed ‘liveable neighbourhood’ scheme in Queen Charlton.
The group Protect Our Keynsham Environment (POKE), which represents more than 800 objectors, has been leading the campaign and people are urged to make their views known to the planning inspector ahead of the deadline of Wednesday 29th June.
POKE will argue against the scheme at the three-week inquiry hearing which is scheduled to begin on 11th October but to pay for professional advocates it needs people to donate to a fighting fund.
POKE is holding a residents’ meeting on Tuesday 5th July at The Space in Temple Street from 7.30pm to 8.30pm to provide an update of what it has done so far, what it intends to do to fight the appeal and what people can do to help.
POKE says: “The council will fight the appeal. They will present their own evidence, arguing they applied planning policies correctly. They want the refusal to stand. POKE intend to support the council. We hope to present our own evidence too. We think a huge unsustainable industrial development in the Green Belt would be disastrous for our local communities.
“A minimum of £20,000 is required for a planning consultant and expert witnesses to fight the developer’s appeal. Without these funds we are at a serious disadvantage and could lose. The more we raise, the more professional expertise and representation we can secure.”
The appeal reference is APP/F0114/W/22/3296335, which can be viewed on the Planning Inspectorate website.
Find out more about POKE at https://protectourkeynshamenvironment.wordpress.com/
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