Planners recommend approval for Grimsby salmon RAS proposal
A 5,000-tonnes-per-year land-based salmon farm proposed for Grimsby has been recommended for approval by planning officers, the Grimsby Telegraph’s website reports.
North East Lincolnshire councillors will consider the planning application by Aquacultured Seafood Limited (ASL) next Wednesday.
In a report for councillors, planning officers said: “The proposal would represent a significant economic investment into the area, creating a number of jobs through construction and then operation as well as supporting the food processing and manufacturing businesses in the area.”
They have determined that it “would not cause harm to residential amenities or business amenity, the visual character of the area, drainage and flood risk, highway safety and amenity, the Humber Estuary designations, the onsite biodiversity and local wildlife site allocation”.
Approval would be subject to a set of conditions.
Concerns addressed
The Grimsby Telegraph reports that several objections from residents were submitted, with concerns over impact on the neighbourhood, with animal welfare and the principles of fish farming also highlighted.
But the planners’ report outlines how noise, odour and habitat concerns have been assessed and addressed. Following a public consultation at Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre, the height of the building closest to homes has been lowered from 8 metres to 6m and moved further towards the 40-metre cold store it neighbours.
Several businesses and organisations have written in support, including Seafood Grimsby and Humber Alliance, neighbouring Grimsby Seafood Village and Grimsby Fish Market. They have cited how it will further Grimsby’s position as leading the way in food and fish production and processing; the need for a sustainable source of salmon; reduction in transport miles and the overall economic investment and jobs.
ASL’s directors include Craig Anderson, former chief executive of the Scottish Salmon Company (now Bakkafrost Scotland) and Mike Berthet, who spent more than three decades as fish and seafood director of M&J Seafood and Brakes UK, and works in market development for the Global Seafood Alliance and its certification programme, Best Aquaculture Practices.
If ASL’s plans are realised, the recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility at New Clee sidings would be the first commercial-scale land-based salmon farm in the UK.
