‘Green gas mill’ plans given go-ahead

Green energy company Ecotricity has secured planning permission to build a so-called ‘green gas mill’ in Hampshire.Located at Sparsholt College and fuelled by locally sourced grass, the power plant will inject £60m into the local economy, create new jobs and produce enough clean gas to heat more than 4,000 homes every year.Ecotricity will finance and build the mill with an investment of £10m, and also help fund the development of a Renewable Energy Demonstration Centre, which will train the next generation of green energy engineers in Britain. The Enterprise M3 LEP has provided £1.2m in grant funding towards the new centre.The original planning application for the site was refused by Winchester City Council in April 2016 due to transport concerns, which were addressed in a fresh application lodged in July.The resubmission included new and revised traffic data and assessment, new traffic plans to keep vehicle movements away from Sparsholt village and a commitment to protect local road infrastructure.