Haverhill MP Nick Timothy raises historical flood-risk concerns about site for proposed bio-digestion plant in Withersfield

A 31-year-old letter has been revealed stating that land earmarked for a proposed anaerobic digestion plant near Haverhill was long-ago identified as a ‘flood risk’.

The December 1994 letter by Savills, which had acted as agents for the Thurlow Estate, the owner of the Spring Grove Farm site in Withersfield, confirms that the flooding of the fields was identified as a ‘problem’ even then.

Acorn Bioenergy has applied to Suffolk County Council for planning permission to build a bio-digestion plant on 31-acres of land at Spring Grove Farm - with the facility being used to convert farm waste, including crops, sileage and poultry litter, into biomethane which can be injected into the national grid.

The letter aside, Nick Timothy, MP for West Suffolk, raised the planning application last week in parliament with a minister - pointing out that its approval could worsen the risk of flooding.

Mr Timothy said: “I raised this in Parliament because it is so important for the people of Haverhill that we don’t have development which worsens the quality of life.

“Haverhill is a wonderful place and doesn’t deserve to be blighted by something that is wrong for our area.

“Putting this plant at Spring Grove Farm risks worsening the danger of flooding.

“That is reason enough for rejecting the proposal.

“But building it would also add to congestion and traffic safety problems on the A1307, harm our air quality and impede business investment into the town. It should be stopped in its tracks.”

During the debate in the House of Commons on Thursday, Mr Timothy asked Emma Hardy, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Water and Flooding: “What is the Government doing to prevent development on land susceptible to flooding.”

In response, the minister said the National Planning Policy Framework makes it clear that development should not take place without good reason on land at risk of flooding. and if it does, it should ‘not increase the flood risk’.

Mr Timothy’s intervention comes after a flooding officer made a submission to Suffolk County Council’s development and regulation committee recommending approval of the application, subject to surface water drainage conditions.

The MP wrote to Suffolk County Council on April 29 to object to this submission, saying: “The construction of the bio-digestion plant would concrete over a number of acres of land that would otherwise absorb a vast quantity of rainfall.

“The entrance of the planned facility would be constructed on an area designated as Flood Zone 3.

“Should there be a flood that restricts entry and egress to the site, it would cause traffic congestion, compromising road safety.”

In February, the Environment Agency (EA) objected to the application on the basis that the applicant failed to satisfy concerns about worsening flood risks.

The application has faced a lot of criticism and opposition, including from the Muck off Acorn campaign group set up to challenge it, as well as hundreds of residents, along with town, parish and district councils and businesses.

A decision is due to be made by the county council on the planning application on June 19.