FARMERS who installed a slurry-fed green energy unit without planning permission close to the Wye Valley Walk and a 12th Century chapel are appealing against an enforcement notice to get rid of it.

Herefordshire Council planners turned down a retrospective application in May 2020 from Nigel Green and Sally Morris-Green of Much Fawley Farm in Fawley, four miles north of Ross-on-Wye.

They had previously issued an enforcement notice ordering them to remove the heat and power unit installed in 2016 next to their 14th century Grade II-listed farmhouse, which is powered by methane gas from cattle and chicken slurry fed into an anaerobic digester and provides electricity for the farm and National Grid.

The rest of the anaerobic digester plant, which along with another heat and power unit, has planning permission, was installed as a £2m investment in 2012 to produce green energy.

But planners found about the second unapproved unit in a shipping container close to the listed 12th-Century Much Fawley Chapel when they investigated complaints of noise at the Wyeside farm.

The council’s ecologist said it was in the River Wye’s Special Area of Conservation, while its environmental health officer said noise was ’distinctly audible’ at the nearby chapel and the smell noticeable at neighbouring properties.

Both said more assessments and information about its impact needed to be provided before any permission could be granted.

Natural England also said an air quality assessment was needed, although the Environment Agency said that as far as they were concerned, the heat and power unit was covered by an already existing permit for another authorised unit on the site.

Neighbours complained about the noise, with the unit allegedly running 24 hours a day, as well as the smell.

Sharon Francis, who lives 100 yards away, claimed they were assailed by an "intolerable stench" when the digester breaks down and told planners: "The generator is extremely noisy, so a restful night’s sleep is impossible."

Karen Birch added that the whole anaerobic digester operation caused "continual and major disruption to our lives with truly horrendous smells."

A new retrospective application for permission was lodged with planners in August, alongside the appeal against the enforcement notice to remove the unit.

A report on behalf of the appeal says agreement with the planning officer has been "in principle established" to deal with one outstanding issue relating to "noise and mitigation" and says it appears from correspondence that "planning permission should be forthcoming".

It says "expert evidence" has been provided to show that measures to control noise can be installed.

They also claim that the ’four year period’ ruling for council enforcement action has lapsed, as the unit was "substantially completed in October 2016", and the notice was "misconceived".

The Greens were made subject to an enforcement notice requiring the removal of the heat unit and storage container on March 1, 2021.

The original planning application was then refused in May on the grounds that it was in the Wye Valley SAC and needed a Habitat Regulations Assessment, and a lack of information about the impact of noise and the impact on air quality.