Scores object to plan for controversial gas plant on greenfield site

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2 days ago

Plans for a controversial gas plant, reportedly utilising revolutionary new technology, have been heavily opposed by locals.
The installation of more than 20 shipping containers to create a gas-producing plant on agricultural fields north of Swindon has received over 60 responses from members of the public.
And most of them are against the plan.
Rivan Industries wants permission to put up to 22 shipping containers, containing gas-producing equipment, and a large solar array to power it, on the field off Little Rose Lane, north of Blunsdon.
(Image: Rivan Industries)
As well as the 40-foot-long shipping containers, and the hard-standing and a gravel access track, the plans include 11 water tanks holding 40,000 litres each and 11 gas storage domes, 4.3 metres, or, 14 feet tall, another two containers for storage and a car park for four vehicles, with the whole compound surrounded by a two-metre-high steel mesh fence.
The technology sees limestone heated to release carbon dioxide. And in another process, hydrogen is separated from oxygen from the water collected on the site. Processing the carbon dioxide and hydrogen together produces methane gas, which Rivan says can be pumped straight into the national gas grid.
The application is to keep the plant in place for up to 30 years.
As well as objections from residents, the plan has been called in to the planning committee by Blunsdon & Highworth's Councillor Nick Gardiner, who wrote: 'I request that this planning application be referred to planning committee due to significant public concern and the presence of material planning issues including: unacceptable harm to the rural landscape and setting of Blunsdon, potential public safety concerns from gas storage, industrialisation of open countryside, inconsistency with adopted local policies on landscape, rural development, and highway safety.'
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The Council for the Protection of Rural England has also objected. Saying. Among other objections: 'The present proposal should be sited on a brownfield site. Solar energy requirement should be predominantly generated from rooftops and on car parks, not on productive agricultural land.'
Traffic on small roads was a theme in objections from the public, most of which came from Blunsdon residents. One wrote: 'Access routes like Little Rose Lane are narrow country lanes that were never designed to handle frequent movements of heavy goods vehicles.
'The sudden introduction of industrial traffic on such lanes would create significant risk of collision and intimidation. The current infrastructure is clearly unsuitable for this type of industrial use.'