Parish group hits out at ‘unsavoury’ behaviour

THE actions of opponents of a proposed energy scheme who cheered as a councillor walked out of a public meeting have been branded “unsavoury, unfounded and unacceptable”.

More than 50 people attending a meeting of Thelbridge Parish Council to discuss plans for an anaerobic digestion plant in the Mid Devon countryside witnessed Councillor Bob Charlton leave after being repeatedly questioned about his integrity and business relationship with the applicant.

Thelbridge Parish Council said that after coming under “severe and personal criticism” from members of the public, the councillor found himself in an “untenable position” at last Monday’s meeting.

The parish council’s statement said: “The behaviour of those members of the public that were involved [in cheering the councillor’s departure] was unsavoury, unfounded and unacceptable.”

It goes on to describe Mr Charlton as a “valued member” of the council, who has proved to be an “honourable, trustworthy and committed servant”.

Mr Charlton said the atmosphere was confrontational which was unfortunate.

“I think there are a lot of people who feel very passionately about this, and I understand that, but our job as parish councillors is to represent the views of all the people who live in the parish, not just the people that tend to go to meetings,” he told the Gazette.

He said he had not had an opportunity to properly answer the points put to him at the meeting.

“I used to have a business relationship with the applicant but that ended four years ago,” he said. “I was a director of a sportswear company he ran and I used to work out of the office on my own PR business, but I no longer do.”

Mr Charlton said Thelbridge was a tight-knit community and one he felt proud to have represented for seven years.

The parish council was given special dispensation to debate the issue after a hearing of Mid Devon’s standards committee the week before.

The district’s own planning committee last week examined the proposal by applicant Stuart Cole to build a biogas plant on land at Menchine Farm, Nomansland.

Officers advised the committee raise no objection to the scheme, but members chose to go against this, and recommend refusal, with traffic impact as the main reason.

The council chamber at Tiverton Town Hall was packed on Wednesday, with opponents living closest to the site raising concerns about the smell from chicken litter and abattoir waste which would be used to feed it, traffic to and from the site and its visual impact.

The proposed plant would handle 26,000 tonnes of waste a year, which would include dead whole chickens, chicken litter and milk waste, which will be broken down to produce gas, converted into electricity.

Planning officer Keith Garside said the capacity of the electricity line which would serve the area was 1.2MW, with the proposed plant having an output of 1.1MW, so there was little likelihood of the site being expanded.

Objector Robert Davey said the applicant’s transport statement was full of ambiguity. The report estimates the plant is likely to generate an additional 20 two-way trips per day on weekdays, and ten two-way trips on Saturdays, but Mr Davey said the scale of the scheme made it unsuited to a rural setting.

Councillor Margaret Squire said Mr Cole’s proposal sounded like an “innovative” scheme but cautioned that the concerns of local residents also had to be taken into account.

Proposing a motion to refuse the application, Councillor David Nation said: “I think most people in the room are in agreement with the principle of anaerobic digestion. Where they do not agree is on the location.”

The councillors voted to support Mr Nation’s motion and Mid Devon’s response will be considered by county council planners who will eventually determine the application.

The council is due to hold a site meeting tomorrow at Menchine Farm, followed by a public meeting.