Petition against proposed anaerobic digestion plant on edge of Haverhill attracts well over 1,000 signatures

A petition against a proposal to build an anaerobic digestion plant in Withersfield has been signed by more than 1,400 people.

And the number of signatures on the petition created by the campaign group Muck Off Acorn, has, it says, showed how much the community opposes the possibility of having a green energy plant.

The petition has been signed by just over 1,400 people since being started just over three weeks ago.

It centres on the bid by Acorn Bioenergy Ltd to build the plant on 31acres of land at the Thurlow Estate-owned Spring Grove Farm, next to the A1307 in Withersfield and on the edge of Haverhill, close to housing and The EpiCentre business and innovation centre.

The petition says the plant: “Would be used to convert crops such as rye, oat, maize and grass sileage, straw, slurry and poultry litter into methane gas for heating and transport and produce fertiliser.

“The five fermentation tanks stand 16.5 metres high (equal to four double decker buses standing on top of each other) and 34 metres across in diameter each.”

Indy Wijenayaka, Muck Off Acorn spokesman, said: “We had a community meeting (at The EpiCentre) and there were people basically lining up to enter the room.

“We set it up for about 40 people and we had almost double that.

“The community support for this campaign is phenomenal. It really shows the strength of feeling of the community, that we really don’t want this happening.”

So far, no planning application for the plant has been submitted by Acorn Bioenergy.