LORDS Meadow Energy Ltd has applied to vary some of the conditions which apply to its plan for an on-farm digestion plant on the edge of Lords Meadow Industrial Estate at Crediton.

The planning application seeks a variation of condition 8 of planning permission 25/00755/MFUL (Variation of condition (2) of planning permission 18/01800/MFUL (Construction of an on-farm anaerobic digestion plant and associated infrastructure) to increase the annual feedstock limit from 32,500 tonnes to 48,500 tonnes and remove the restrictions relating to individual feedstock types, tonnages and source sites.

Work began on the site east of Lords Meadow Industrial Estate in 2022 after the then £14.3 million Anaerobic Digestion plant was approved by Mid Devon District Council in 2019.

A 3D image of the proposed Crediton Anaerobic Digestion Plant.
A 3D image of the proposed Crediton Anaerobic Digestion Plant. (Planning documents)

The feedstock will include maize silage, grass silage, whole crop rye, pig slurry, chicken litter, whey, farm yard manure, waste grain, waste straw, veg waste, brewery waste, horse manure and apple pulp.

The plan includes a digester, tanks, storage areas and much more.

In addition, approved in 2025 was the addition of CO2 recovery infrastructure.

When completed the plant will supply enough gas into the grid for more than 3,200 homes, likely more if the variation to increase feedstock limit is approved.

A view of the area being excavated for the Anaerobic Digestion plant adjoining the Lords Meadow Industrial Estate in Crediton. AQ 5993
A view of the area being excavated for the Anaerobic Digestion plant adjoining the Lords Meadow Industrial Estate in Crediton in 2022. AQ 5993 (Alan Quick, Crediton Courier)

Previously applicant Mr Graham Kerslake said that the advanced technology plant will be “super green”, adding that the process will be odourless, and there will be just an average of six deliveries of materials to fill the digester each day.

“The plan should appeal to anyone who is environmentally-minded and will see the benefits of using by-products to produce green energy,” he went on to say, “not only will the facility produce renewable gas, it will also produce 6,000 tonnes of concentrated bio-fertiliser, which will be used by the farm to grow crops, this bio-fertiliser eliminates the need for the farm to buy in expensive, chemical fertilisers that in themselves use a huge amount of energy from fossil fuel sources to produce.”

Opponents have expressed concerns about the volume of traffic to and from the plant, possible odour and dust issues, while Sustainable Crediton said previously that the plan would not cause significant harm and that the benefits outweighed any limited harm that may be caused.

You can view the plan and comment via the Mid Devon District Council website: www.middevon.gov.uk

To see more public notices and planning applications, visit: https://publicnoticeportal.uk/.