Good turnout

Nocton Dairy Meeting

The aim of the meeting last night was for the audience to ask their questions to Peter Willes (PW) and David Barnes, to obtain clarification on their plans. Whilst there were many intelligent and informed questions, unfortunately I have to report there was little real clarification for me.

There were some snippets of information peppered throughout the proceedings, but I was amazed that after so many years of planning, with specialist Agricultural Consultants preparing their case, Nocton Dairies still didn't have all the information at their fingertips... and it showed.

Mr Willes appeared flustered at the start of his presentation, rushing through it at breakneck speed, not really engaging with his audience. Occasionally he mumbled through points with little coherence. That said, once into the question and answer session he began to settle down and respond to the Nocton residents accordingly.

I am not attempting here to give a full report of the meeting, just a flavour. These are my jottings from the evening and were points of interest for me. Full Minutes of the meeting will be produced in due course and I shall try and obtain permission to post them here in my blog.

Anaerobic Digester

The provider of the digester has still not been chosen. It is going to cost in the region of £3.5 million and Nocton Dairies Ltd (ND) are not going to commit to a prefered supplier until the planning application is agreed. The choice has been reduced to just two companies now (at the Branston meeting it was three) and both provide the same type of digester.

The vision from ND is to be able to pipe all liquid digestate wherever possible, stacking the 'solids' in fields. A figure of 8,000 tonnes was mentioned for the production of solids, although when challenged on this we didn't really get a finite answer.

PW acknowledged there is a preference to 'pipe everything' and went on to mention ND will use overground pipes as well. If planning is granted, they would ideally like to continue the underground pipeline out onto the fen at Wasp's Nest for distribution purposes, but as ND doesn't own the land that may well be an issue. The solids will go out to Stainfield via Nocton and Potterhanworth, or may go through the internal Estate road to Wasp's Nest.

There was much discussion surrounding the structural integrity of the Nocton Fen road for transporting all this waste.

PW accepted that odours are a big concern for local residents, that is why ND intend putting in the AD from the start, as between 80 - 90% of the odour is removed during the digesting process... apparently.

There is now no need for extra water, but the pipeline and reservoir may still be built regardless of the outcome with the dairy plans, as both will assist with the irrigation of crops.

Financing

Yorkshire Bank is the financial institution backing the venture with funds.

Partnerships

Mr Robert Howard has 'registered an interest' in joining the company if planning for the dairy gets the go ahead. Currently, he is organising the cropping on the farm.

Discussions have also been held with Mr Robert Beck who owns land at Wasp's Nest. There is another Danish farmer who has expressed an interest in selling his half of the investment at Wasp's Nest and Robert Beck is looking to purchase this. PW admitted 'we may well buy the land'.

ND did not seem to write off other farmers featuring again in arrangements for the future. Whether that meant Blankney Estates and Patrick Dean Ltd would declare an intention if the dairy gets the go ahead, I didn't get the chance to ask the question I'm afraid.  I did get the impression though that land for this future dairy operation is in short supply.

Planning Process

A number of times PW refered to the planning process, at one point saying 'it may yet get delayed'.

Overall Impression

I did highlight the fact that there is still a great deal of information outstanding, much of it required by formal consultees. With planning deadlines creeping ever nearer, I rather clumsily asked whether PW is confident he can supply what is required to get planning passed. I don't think it was fully answered, but by this time my thoughts had started to wander elsewhere.

What I did see though during the evening, was a man fully committed to his cause and vision for this mega-dairy, but for the first time occasionally displaying uncharacteristic nerves.

I understand the Exit Ballot result was 8 'for' the dairy and 93 'against'. It would appear every Nocton resident there voted!
_______________________________________________________