Rural biogas plant near Telford plans for expansion
A planning application has now been lodged with Telford & Wrekin Council to build a waste reception building and make alterations to the 10,250 square metre plant.
A Shropshire biogas production company is growing as a ‘direct result of the nationwide introduction of compulsory domestic food waste collection’, planning documents state.
Now Thornfield Energy Ltd, is proposing to increase the amount of solid and liquid food waste that it turns into biogas at its site at Barnes Farm, at Rowton, north of Telford.
It could mean an extra 19 HGVs using a rural road off the A442 to get to the site near Waters Upton.
Biogas, produced by anaerobic digestion, is piped to the National Grid by way of a dedicated pipeline.
Another eight jobs are on the cards as the company expands its operations from its current level of processing 106,000 tonnes of food waste to 130,000 tonnes.
A planning application has now been lodged with Telford & Wrekin Council to build a waste reception building and make alterations to the 10,250 square metre plant.
The company’s planning agent says that the company has recently won major contracts, including from Government mandated local authority food waste that will involve “adding approximately 40,000 tonnes of food waste taking the required capability up to 130,000 tonnes.
“The increase in solid food waste is a direct result of the nationwide introduction of compulsory domestic food waste collection,” the agent writes.
The company is a 24 hour a day operation and needs a reception hall and ancillary accommodation for sorting and preparation. Its deliveries are at any time from 6am to 11pm, seven days a week.
A transport assessment states that the processing of 130,000 tonnes of waste would generate 291 HGV loads per week.
This would be a “slight increase of between 18 and 19 two-way daily HGV movements, or two per hour” on the current deliveries, the assessment states.
Access is via an unnamed road with passing places between the A442 and the site access.
The plant will produce 13 million cubic metres of biogas per annum and 1,484 cu m per hour.
Some eight new full-time employees and others employed on an ‘as and when required’ will be needed.
Full details of the planning application have been lodged on the Telford & Wrekin Council planning portal with the reference TWC/2026/0424
You can find out more about planning applications and planned roadworks where you live by visiting publicnoticeportal.uk/shropshire-star
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