FAQ

  1. Isn't it rather nimby to oppose this biomass power station? What are the alternatives?

    The Castle Cary area already has a large amount of renewables electricity generation (either already operational or being built). There are 4 x 1MW existing plants at Dimmer and 2 x 1MW plants approved at Ditcheat (with building work just about to start). A smaller 175Kw plant has also been developed at Galhampton. Many people don't know this because they are much less obtrusive than a power station. These are all within about 2Km of the proposed site for Bronzeoak's power station. Between them they can provide electricity for more households than there are in the Castle Cary area. So the alternatives are already here.
    Although many of us do not like the idea of nuclear power, it is silly to ignore the fact a new 1,600MW power station is almost certainly going to be built in Somerset at Hinkley Point. It will produce electricity for more than 2 million homes. There are only about 230,000 homes in the whole of Somerset so the vast majority of that electricity will be "exported" out of Somerset. So arguments that anyone in Somerset is being nimby are on very shaky ground. This power station at Castle Cary will, in effect, increase the amount of non-fossil fuel electricity generated in Somerset for other parts of the country.
    That isn't a reason not to generate more, of course. But it is a reason not to be bullied into inappropriate developments by nimby accusations.

  2. I support the development of renewable electricity. Isn't it hypocritical to oppose this scheme?

    No. Not all renewable schemes are equally green. And some are more damaging to the local area than others.
    A power station like this will use massive amounts of heat to drive water off the feedstock before it can be burned. About two thirds of the energy then produced will be wasted heat energy going up into the atmosphere. Then you have to take into account transport to and from the site. It is a very long way from being carbon-neutral. Only on a very unsophisticated analysis would anyone claim this is carbon-neutral. There are plenty of renewables technologies that are much less wasteful than this one. You are not being hypocritical in supporting the better ones only.
    We believe the big renewables subsidies on offer will generate many more proposals for smaller, local, renewables projects. If we jump at the first big biomass project in the planning queue, it will probably make it more difficult for better-planned, smaller, local renewables projects to get planning permission.

  3. This area could do with some more jobs. Isn't it rather selfish to oppose this scheme?

    Although Bronzeoak have claimed the power station will create 27 jobs and a similar number carrying out deliveries, we do not believe this a true reflection of the overall picture. Even if this number of new jobs is created, but it might well be less than the jobs lost as a result of this proposal. It is quite possible the overall position will be a net loss of jobs.
    Many jobs in shops, pubs, restaurants and local B&Bs in Castle Cary and the surrounding area depend on attracting people to Castle Cary as a rural market town that has not been spoilt. These businesses are bound to be hit if the town is industrialised. There are sound commercial reasons for preserving Castle Cary's rural surroundings. Bronzeoak's jobs figures do not take this into account.
    The claims about other indirect jobs don't stand scrutiny either. A huge area of farmland will need to be converted from food crops to miscanthus or other biomass crops to feed a 25MW power station. (Figures as high as 44,000 acres have been suggested, though we'd welcome confirmation). Many of the farms in our area are livestock or dairy farms. If these change to biomass farms there are bound to be job losses overall. Miscanthus does not need feeding every day. Miscanthus doesn't have to be milked every day. Miscanthus only needs to be collected once a year but milk has to be collected every day. Just focussing on the new miscanthus delivery jobs is only looking at part of the picture. It is hard to see how there can possibly be a gain in jobs overall.
    Job losses may not be a good reason to oppose this scheme but it looks as if job gains would be a misguided reason for supporting it.

  4. Why is it people are saying the heavy traffic will treble or quadruple?

    We understand 120,000 tonnes per year is delivered to the Dimmer landfill site. If this power station proposal is approved, Bronzeoak has said a further 250,000 tones of fuel will need to be delivered each year. This means the heavy traffic to the site would at least triple from 120,000 to 370,000 tonnes each year. We also know Viridor is entitled to increase traffic to the landfill site to 200,000 tonnes per year and has been trying to do so by tendering for waste disposal contracts from outside the County. So if Viridor is successful, the traffic could almost quadruple (up to 450,000 tonnes each year). This is more than the traffic limit imposed on Viridor's other waste site on the M5. It can't possibly be right for the B3153. It will be even worse if the traffic to the Bath and West site increases significantly, as seems likely.

  5. If this scheme is too big, shouldn't we be thinking about something smaller?

    Click here (www.industcards.com/biomass-elsewhere.htm) for pictures of biomass power stations which are all smaller than the one proposed at Castle Cary. Most are less than half the size but would still be vastly out-of-scale with this area.
    At a public meeting in Cary in March local people were told the District Council had first been approached by Bronzeoak with a 12.5MW scheme. Is it possible the developer might now be suggesting a 25MW power station at Castle Cary in the hope that we will all breath a sigh of relief when it is scaled back to half the size? That should not be treated as a victory for local people. That outcome would be more like treating us as mugs.

  6. If this proposal is such a bad idea, why is Bronzeoak proposing it?

    It isn't such a bad idea for Bronzeoak. In fact it is a very clever idea to turn a non-productive piece of land into a valuable asset.
    Based on the recent sale price of another biomass power station project in the UK, this one at Castle Cary might be worth round about £16,000,000 to Bronzeoak before it is even built (if it gets planning permission). This is because of the huge subsidies renewables projects attract, which do not distinguish between good and bad renewables projects. A poorly-sited, wasteful renewables project will get as much subsidy and will be just as valuable as a well-sited, energy-efficient project. This doesn't mean we should not support any renewables projects. But is does mean it is entirely down to local people, their councillors and planners to regulate between the projects that are good for the local community and those which are not.
    Records indicate the Bronzeoak group is owned by a single individual living in Surrey. Do we really want to rely on his or Bronzeoak's analysis of the benefits to us in Cary? We should make up our own minds on the types of renewables projects that are good for us locally and take the Bronzeoak sales pitch with a healthy pinch of salt.