BASILDON could be landed with yet another waste site as plans are finalised for a biogas plant next to the A13.

The owner of Marsh Farm, Vange, hopes to complete work on the plant, which would convert 11,750 tonnes of farm waste, maize and manure into biogas per year, in August.

The plant was branded a “danger to the public” by a leading Basildon councillor when an application was first lodged last year.

Byron Taylor, Labour councillor for Vange, has criticised council leaders for failing to ensure waste plants in Basildon bring benefits to the area.

Existing waste sites in Basildon include a landfill in Pitsea Hall Lane, which has been granted permission to stay open for another decade, and a plant in Courtauld Road, which will process all of Essex’s household black bag waste.

Mr Taylor said: “They seem to want to turn Basildon into a great big waste plant.

“Every time this sort of proposal comes forward, we are assured all these great things will happen, like road improvements.

“But still nothing has happened. We were promised potholes in Clay Hill Road would be fixed as part of the Courtauld Road development.

“They are determined to turn us into the dumping ground of Essex.”

Last month, another application, for an asbestos treatment plant on the Burnt Mills Industrial Estate, was approved by Essex County Council.

The original permission for Marsh Farm, by landowner Alex Sell, was granted by the county council last November.

But Mr Sell wants to make minor design changes to the original scheme after the original equipment supplier went into administration.

He said: “The plan is to start groundwork after the winter and really concentrate hard on it once the weather improves.”

Last year, when the proposal was originally lodged, John Dornan, then Basildon councillor responsible for environment, labelled it a “danger to the public”.

He added: “This is on the A13 at an already dangerous crossing. We will fight tooth and nail to stop it.”

A public consultation period on the amended application closes on December 24.

Fears about impact on A13

ONCE up and running, it is estimated the biogas plant will result in an extra 1,196 agricultural vehicle movements on the A13 each year.

An earlier proposal for the site was withdrawn in 2013 after Basildon Council raised “extreme concerns” about the extra vehicles visiting the site.

The gas will drive a generator, providing four million kw of electricity per year for the National Grid.

In response to criticism last year, Keith Leddington-Hill, managing director at Laurence Gould Partnership, which submitted the plans on behalf of the farm, insisted the plant would help solve energy shortages.

He added: “The country could face an energy deficiency in 2016 and this plant will contribute to reducing that.

“The impact on the A13 will be minimal in comparison to the thousands of vehicles which use it every day.”

In a response to the original application last year, one resident referred to the section of the A13 near the farm turning as a “notorious accident hotspot.”

They added: “The danger is obvious with traffic slowing to access the crossing on a road with a 70mph limit."

But Essex Highways and the Highways Agency both decided against registering an objection to the proposal.