May 10, 2018 8.39 am This story is over 70 months old

Controversial animal rendering factory plans submitted

£28m factory would create 30 jobs.
Protestors at an event staged against the Norton Disney plans in 2018. | Photo: Jasper Weldon

Controversial plans for a £28 million animal waste rendering plant in Norton Disney near Lincoln have been submitted to Lincolnshire County Council.

The plans proposed by Lincoln Proteins Limited would see two processing buildings built on Villa Farm in a move that would relocate the firm from Skellingthorpe.

Permission is also being sought for the change of use and alterations to the two existing dwellings to form ancillary offices and demolition of all other existing buildings.

The site would also include a water treatment plant, internal roadways, employee welfare buildings and a visitor and staff park at the site.

It is expected that the move would create around 30 jobs.

Animal rendering is the process of converting waste animal tissue such as fatty tissue, bone or even entire carcasses of animals turned away at slaughterhouses into purified fats like lard or tallow.

This can sometimes be converted into products like rubber, plastic and lubricants, or animal feed.

But local residents have come out in opposition against the plans since the early stages.

More than 3,600 people signed a petition back in December 2017 against the proposals which was then presented to the county council.

In the same month, around 400 demonstrators took part in a march organised by the Witham Valley Preservation Group from Villa Farm to Norton Disney.

Photo: Jasper Weldon

Protestors held placards with messages like “you will ruin Hill Hold Wood,” “let’s kick up a stink before you do,” and “your facility will ruin our business”.

Residents have said that the proposals would “adversely affect the lives of residents” in surrounding villages, citing fears of another “Smelly Skelly”.

But the developers have said that the facility would be modern and would be less likely to cause a smell.

Gary Hancock from Lincoln Proteins Ltd (A Hughes and Son) said previously: “Since the plans were announced in October, we have met with a significant number of local people as part of the public consultation.”

He added: “A modern processing facility is unrecognisable from the old plant of 14 years ago.

“The odours are negligible and less intrusive than average everyday agriculture. The move will enable the jobs and the multimillion pound contribution to the Lincolnshire economy to stay where it belongs, in Lincolnshire.”