The Planning Authority has given us an encouraging pre-screening opinion stating that our proposal does not breach any of the thresholds set out in Schedule 1 of The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 and that the potential for adverse impacts on sensitive areas, flood risk and environmental issues could in their view be addressed satisfactorily within the normal planning process. This has given us confidence to proceed to a full planning application which will be submitted to the Authority in April.
Last week we selected BTS-Biogas Group as the preferred contractor for the build phase. You may care to review the company’s credentials at www.bts-biogas.com. They are committed to subcontracting work to local contractors wherever possible and have a proven track record of working effectively with community renewable energy groups through the construction of a 499 kW AD plant at Mapledurham Estate in Berkshire.
Projected future milestones for our project are:
Apr 18 Submission of full planning application (June decision)
Jun 18 Development of full financial model
Sep 18 Community share issue launched