DONG Energy says its planned bioresource development would be "an attractive facility sympathetic to its surroundings".

Planning permission is being sought from Cheshire West and Chester Council for the REnescience Northwich plant at the Lostock Works at Lostock Gralam.

The plant would recover resources from waste and generate renewable electricity through treatment with enzymes, mechanical sorting and anaerobic digestion, and is earmarked for land between Manchester Road and Griffiths Road.

In terms of the plant’s height, apart from the gas engines’ stack at 33 metres, the tallest structure on the site would be the envelope to the waste bunker hall at 24 metres.

“The main objective when developing the scheme has been to provide a suitable high quality appearance while reducing the visual impact of the anaerobic digestion (AD) plant tanks to be sympathetic to its surroundings and the views from key visual receptors,” said a statement accompanying the application.

“Considerable effort has gone into achieving this objective, with thought being given to the size, layout, scale and appearance of the facility and its site.

“The scheme combines the functional requirements of the process and technology equipment that are used within the facility with the requirements to house the equipment within an aesthetically-pleasing building envelope to provide an attractive, efficient energy-generating facility sympathetic to its surroundings.”

The appearance of the buildings has been broken up by using darker cladding for lower buildings and light cladding for taller ones such as the bunker hall.

“In doing this the taller buildings will fade into the sky, giving the appearance of a lower building,” said the statement.

“Similarly it is proposed that the AD tanks will have a light colour scheme designed to blend with the sky in the upper parts, which are less well screened by the landscape planting.”

The plant would be able to process up to 144,000 tonnes of mixed waste a year, and access to the site is via an existing private access road through Lostock Works from the junction with the A530 Griffiths Road.

“There is a pinch point at the end of this road adjacent to the site entrance, where there is currently insufficient width to allow two lorries to pass each other at the entrance to the site,” said the statement.

“With this in mind it is proposed that the access road will be widened adjacent to the site entrance. Carrying out these works will mean lorries entering the site will not have to wait for oncoming lorries to exit the site.”

A plan will be prepared and agreed with the highway authority before the plant operates to help minimise the number of HGV trips, avoiding peak traffic times, and defining HGV routes via the strategic road network to mitigate the impact of truck journeys on local roads.

“Our overriding objective has been to ensure the proposal works with the site to create a waste management, energy generation and employment use that is of an exceptional quality and minimal environmental impact on the site,” concluded the statement.