Sir – Your article (Campaigners are gearing up, January 16) fails to make clear the true awfulness of the proposal for a biogas anaerobic digester (AD) power plant at Milton Hill.
We are in favour of well-sited green energy initiatives, but this proposal is in no way comparable to the AD sites at Cassington and Wallingford mentioned in your article.
Both of these are sited at least 350m from the nearest dwellings, in compliance with the Environment Agency directive for a minimum 250m buffer zone. This was made with good reason, as there are well-documented risks associated with AD: odour, vermin, airborne toxins, explosion and fires (90 in Germany since 2010).
In contrast, the proposed facility is in close proximity to a primary school, a housing estate and a further estate which has already gained planning permission. Most shockingly, it is a mere 160m from the Home Farm Trust site, which is home to about 40 learning-disabled people, and which provides day services for many more.
The lives of these already disadvantaged people would effectively be ruined, both from the hazards outlined above and the destruction of the rural peace by an incessant convoy of HGV traffic. But, perhaps, the landowners and applicant hold these lives in little account when weighed against their personal profit motive.
Barbara and Graham Williams, Sparsholt
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