Tears, calls of “shame” and disbelief followed the narrowest of votes to allow a new company to set up a ground-breaking artificial gas plant in a farmer’s field in the countryside north of Blunsdon.
Rivan Industries Ltd was given permission by members of Swindon Borough Council’s planning committee by just four votes to three to set up the plant, which will involve the laying down of concrete hard standing, and installing 22 40-feet-long shipping containers in the field containing its new technology which it said can create methane gas from processing limestone and carbon dioxide.
As well as the containers, the plant will be powered by dozens of solar panels on the site and there will be a 40,000 litre water tank, 11 gas storage domes at 4.3 meters high each, a control room, security fencing and CCTV.
More than 20 residents from Blunsdon had attended the meeting, hoping to see the plan turned down.
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All three Blunsdon & Highworth ward councillors spoke against the scheme.
Councillor Nick Gradiner pointed out several examples of what he said were “inconsistencies or unreliable information” in the planners’ report recommending approval. He urged the committee to defer the matter to get better information.
Councillor Steve Weisinger said the harm to the countryside s north of Blunsdon would be “irreversible”.
It was the impact on the rural landscape, as well as traffic on the narrow Little Roase Lane and the safety of the new technology which caused residents and some councillors most concerns.
Stephanie Taylor who lives in Blunsdon owns a woodland near the site.
She said: “This will do irreversible harm to the rural situation. This is industrial creep which will be visible from Blunson and Castle Hill iron age fort.
“We can protect the countryside and also promote renewable green energy, they are not mutually exclusive.”
Annabelle MacGregor, Rivan Industries head of land and planning told the committee: “The regulatory bodies responsible for safety, have not objected to these plans.
“The impact on the landscape does not materially affect the view, it is a small change.
“We urgently need new forms of gas to replace fossil fuels and if we are serious about decarbonisation it’s not enough to cut emissions, we must remove carbon.”
She added that planning policies explicitly support renewable energy production.
Councillors on the committee were told that the site had been previously approved for a solar farm.
When it came to the vote, a proposal by Councillor Jake Chandler to refuse the scheme received three votes but fell when four members voted against it.
The same margin applied to a motion to approve the scheme, allowing Rivan Industries to set up its plants but disappointing the assembled residents.
Rivan’s technology sees limestone heated to release carbon dioxide. 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.
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