An outline application for the 49-home village off the A607 at Kirby Bellars has been submitted to Melton Borough Council. The plans include an anaerobic digester which converts waste into electricity.
According to the local landowner behind the scheme, it would involve taking waste from the nearby Defence Animal Centre in Melton, which is home to up to 300 military horses and 200 dogs.
The publicly funded animal center currently spends thousands of pounds each month transporting dog and horse droppings to Norwich, 114 miles away.
The power generated would supply the 49 homes with energy and heat, and any excess will be fed into the National Grid. The digester would be able to recycle up to 10,000 tons of sewage, garden and other biodegradable waste per year. The applicants said the digester’s design would ensure no smells were emitted and sound proofing would ensure the machinery would not be heard. Homes would have charging points for electric cars and waste water would be recycled. James Brindley, of HSSP Architects, said: “Not only would the plant ensure food and other green waste was not removed from the development, it would have the capability to take all the organic waste from Melton Borough Council.
“The carbon footprint will be reduced by the council not having to collect waste from the development and fertiliser provided to farmers.”
Landowner Eric Brown, 70, said: “I first thought of it about six years ago.
“Methane has a greater environmental impact on the ozone layer than carbon dioxide and is more injurious to the environment.
“There would be a receiving building for the waste with an ionising curtain which would contain any odours before it goes into the digester, which would be sealed. It’s got to be airtight to capture the methane. “The Defence Animal Centre in Melton is very interested because it pays about £39,000 a year to have all its waste transported to Norwich.
“We would be keen to do it for a lower figure with less transport miles.
“There are also a lot of stables in this area.
“It’s my vision. Visiting other plants, even the architect was amazed there wasn’t any noise or smell.
“It is a very environmentally friendly project which would be good not just for the locality but for the borough.”
Villager Alan Batten said: “It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to me – it seems like a bit of a fairy story.
“The volume of traffic on the A607 would be a big problem, especially if it was generating more traffic from places such as the animal camp.”
Parish council chairman Angus Smith said: “It’s a fair old size in relation to Kirby Bellars, which is only about 100 strong at the moment.”
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