Council urged to say no to rendering plant

A council’s officers are recommending that it objects to controversial plans for a £28m animal rendering plant.

North Kesteven District Council’s planning committee is due to meet today to consider the plant proposed for Villa Farm, Norton Disney.

It will also debate an associated application to demolish an existing animal by-products processing plant at Jerusalem Farm, Skellingthorpe, where the company behind the Norton Disney application, Lincoln Proteins Ltd, currently operates.

The district council is a consultee over the proposals and will pass on representations to Lincolnshire County Council, which will make the final decision.

A full planning application has been submitted to the county council for the development of an animal by-products processing plant with associated works

Animal rendering is the process of converting waste animal parts, such as fatty tissue, bone, and entire carcasses of animals turned away at slaughterhouses, into purified fats, like lard or tallow.

That can sometimes be converted into products such as rubber, plastic, lubricants, and animal feed.

Nearby residents have opposed the plans.

More than 3,600 people signed a petition, which was presented to the county council, against the proposals.

The site is currently an unoccupied farm. Two semi-detached bungalows and a group of farm buildings, accessed off Folly Lane, are located towards the middle of the site.

Most of the rest of the land is made up of three open arable fields, with significant mature trees and woodland, especially around the farm buildings and bungalows.

The district council officers’ report said it might be argued the applicant had not demonstrated the proposals were consistent with an up-to-date local plan or with two key planning policies.

"Officers consider the proposals fail to fully assess alternative development sites, which is essential to otherwise exceptionally permit development in the countryside," the report said.

"Odour modelling reviewed on behalf of the council has identified the need to further examine alternative sites at Newark and Hemswell Cliff, in particular."

The report said the plan would constitute major industrial development in the countryside.

It said the proposals failed to fully evidence the availability of alternative sites, or the need for additional rendering capacity.

The report also said the proposals failed to fully assess odour and air quality impacts,

The district council is to ask the county council to seek further clarity on the highway safety implications of the proposals from Highways England and the highway authority.

The report said there was potential for the proposed plant to impact on the setting and significance of designated heritage assets close to the site, including a Norton Disney Roman villa.

The officers recommended the committee objects to the proposal on the grounds of site selection, locational strategy policy compliance, alternatives and need; odour, air quality and emissions; landscape and visual impacts and trees; traffic and transport; the historic environment; the safeguarding of minerals underground; ground and surface water contamination; surface water drainage and flood risk; and ecology.