Updates to this Page
29th July 2025: We have updated the concerns section and document with a summary of the Archaeological findings kindly supplied by Parish Councillor Cheyvonne Bower
3rd August 2025: Updated with the presentation from the Public Meetings in the resources section below
5th August 2025: IMPORTANT UPDATE: The consultation end date has now been updated to 22nd August 2025, which aligns with the date shown on the notices present on lampposts close to the proposed site. Documents have been updated to this new date, if you find any issues please do let us know.
13th August 2025: We have been informed that the Planning team will accept representations emailed to them at devcontrol@warrington.gov.uk if people are having difficulties with the Planning Portal. Your email should state clearly the Planning Application Reference (2025/00859/FULM), that you are objecting to or supporting the application, along with the text of your representation.
What is Proposed?
Severn Trent Green Power have submitted plans to develop an Anaerobic Digestion (Biogas) plant in Winwick village, on land between Winwick Link Road and Highfield Lane, shown by the blue marker below.
On 21st July the planning application by Severn Trent Green Energy went live on the WBC Planning Portal. You can access it by clicking here.
These facilities generate gas from the digestion of food waste, which is then piped into the local gas main. Pictures of a similar facility can be seen in this gallery, which were taken on a visit by several of your Parish Councillors to another Severn Trent Green Energy facility near to London
Why are we objecting?
After feedback from residents following a session by Severn Trent Green Power at Winwick Leisure Centre, a visit to a similar facility and our own research, your Parish Council voted unanimously to object to the proposal based on the following reasons:
- Environmental concerns such as smell & noise and potential to contaminate land, including where our primary water source is located that serves over 20,000 homes in the area.
- Increase of HGV and other traffic in an area that is already going to be impacted by both Parkside and the proposed SRFI
- Destruction of vital Green Belt that helps separate our village from an increasingly industrialised area
- Little to no benefits to both our local community and Warrington, as our own food waste will be handled by a different facility
- The site is home to a scheduled monument and this development will alter the setting of that monument and potentially destroy further archelogy for future generations. These facilities require quite an extensive excavation due to sub-surface utilities and foundations
While we appreciate the aims of this type of facility, we believe Winwick is not an appropriate location, given its proximity to housing and our school and the existing traffic issues caused by recent and proposed developments.
You can find more detail on our concerns in the resources section below
What can you do to object?
To make sure that people’s views are taken into consideration in the planning process, we need everyone who is concerned about this development to raise their objections individually to Warrington Borough Council. Unfortunately, mass objections and template letters do not carry the same weight as individual and personalised objections.
We have prepared a series of guides on how to object, what your objection should contain (and not contain) and more information about Biogas facilities and successful objections in other locations. You can access them in our resources section below
It is very important to make sure that your objection contains material planning considerations such as those contained in our guide, as it is only these that can be considered by WBC in its decision
We have also launched a petition at https://chng.it/pFqKj5C542 which we encourage everyone to sign – this does not replace submitting an objection but does show the scale of opposition to these plans.
If you would like to print a poster for your window to alert your neighbours to the application, you will find a Window Poster in the resources section
How can we help you?
We will hold several open meetings over the coming weeks to understand your concerns in more detail, discuss the information contained on this page, and guide residents in how to raise their concerns. These meetings will be held in Winwick Leisure Centre, and while we will do our best to accommodate all who wish to attend, there may be some sessions that become full.
Wednesday 30th July – 7pm to 9pm
Sunday 3rd August – 4pm to 6pm
We will also hold some drop-in sessions where we can help and guide in making your representation on the WBC website, we will also have some laptops available for you to use.
Sunday 3rd August – 6pm to 8pm
Wednesday 6th August – 4pm to 8pm
Wednesday 13th August – 6pm to 8pm
Wednesday 20th August – 6pm to 8pm
We will continue to update the information on this website, please sign up to our mailing list by filling in the form on our Planning Matters page if you wish to be alerted by email when we do so.
Timeline
There is limited time to raise objections, and depending on where you live, the deadline dates may vary. For the majority of people, the deadline is the 22nd August 2025, and you should assume this unless informed differently.
We suggest that you try to raise your concerns by Wednesday 20th August to take into account any technical difficulties.
We expect this decision may be made at a Development Management Committee, which is likely to be September at the earliest. If any of the statutory consultees raise concerns about the development, this may lead to the proposer publishing new documents seeking to address these. In this case, a new deadline for representations may be issued, to give everyone time to reflect on the new proposals and comment appropriately.
Resources
Link to news article about smell from another Severn Trent facility