KILBURN Parish Council has voted unanimously to recommend rejection of a proposed biogas development to be sited just outside the village.

At a packed council meeting councillors heard concerns and objections from residents who feared that the development would blight the village and force local tourist attractions, including Robert Thompson’s Mouseman visitor centre, out of business.

Under consideration at the meeting was a planning application from JFS Clay Bank Farm Biogas and Church Farm, Kilburn, for a range of biogas plant installations, including anaerobic digester (AD) tanks, a digestate storage lagoon and electricity sub-stations, together with agricultural buildings to house 2,000 pigs at the AD site and 2,000 more at Church Farm in the centre of the village.

The biogas complex would cover 10.5 acres of Church Farm land lying to the west of the village.

The size of the development had caused consternation in the village and claims in the planning application that this would be a "farm scale" operation were roundly dismissed. Cllr Jane De Cogan described it as a large-scale industrial unit at a location where there were no existing farm buildings. She could not see how any of the proposed buildings would fit into the surrounding landscape of high quality farmland and stone-built houses.

While acknowledging that farm diversification should be encouraged, Cllr Nigel Pattinson said that there was a big difference between agriculture and industry, and that this development was too large.

There were fears for road safety too, with the increase in heavy vehicles using the narrow Kilburn to Balk road. Access to the site would be opposite a popular White Horse viewpoint, along an existing bridleway, with poor visibility at the road junction. Permission had not been sought from the owner of the bridleway for the change of use.

But the major concern was for the future of the village and the local economy. There was a conviction that Kilburn would be overwhelmed by unpleasant smells from the pig units and the AD site, making life unbearable for residents and tourists.

As one local man put it: “At one end of the village we have an abattoir and sewage farm, at the other end we’ll have a digester, and in the middle we’ll have 2,000 pigs.”

Several people reported being unable to sit outside last summer, because of the smell from a much smaller number of pigs – 500 – kept at Church Farm.

Ian Cartwright, director of Robert Thompson’s Craftsmen, said that he would probably have to close down the Mouseman visitor centre and café if the development went ahead.

Although there was some support voiced for alternative waste and and energy solutions, there were no discernable benefits for the village from this plant, it was felt.

Hambleton District Council is expected to give a decision on the application at the beginning of March.