Controversial plans to build a rendering plant on the Norfolk and Suffolk border have been revived.
Norfolk County Council received more than 400 objections when farmer David Piper, of Hilltop Renders, first unveiled plans to build the development at his site in Hall Road, Brockdish, two years ago.
The village is in the Waveney Valley, near Diss, and under the proposal existing buildings at Hilltop Farm would be converted and extended to house a unit processing an estimated 24,000 tonnes of poultry waste a year operating around the clock.
People in Brockdish and nearby villages formed an action group at the time to fight the development. Opponents were worried about potential smells, noise, traffic safety and the impact on the countryside and tourism if a rendering plant complete with a 15m high chimney were allowed. However, the initial scheme was withdrawn in light of the comments to enable Hilltop Renders to consider how these issues could be resolved before the plan proceeded further. A new application has now been submitted to the county council, together with an environmental impact assessment which the planning authority had requested. But the company has been advised that the assessment is not of the required standard and needs further work before the scheme can be determined.
Council spokesman Steve Reilly said: “The environmental impact assessment does not meet the criteria and is not really up to the standard it needed to be. We have said they should undertake a scoping opinion first to understand what we require from the environmental assessment. The company has said okay and to treat it as a draft application.
”The ’scoping process’ includes consulting local parish councils, and other bodies, to find out what are the key issues that will need to be addressed.
Brockdish parish clerk, David Jenvey, said the parish council will be calling a meeting in early May so residents can give their views, before making a formal response. Environmental concerns are also high on the list for villagers campaigning against a rendering plant in the Wensum Valley, at Great Witchingham, near Dereham, which they claim will blight their community.
Developer Banham Compost claims the plant is vital for East Anglia’s Poultry industry but has been told it cannot operate the facility – which is at the centre of a planning wrangle – until the plant has secured a licence which would only be granted once council officers were reassured over a range of issues.Full story from the EDP.
