A THIRD digester tank will be built at a waste plant - despite objections by neighbours over rotten smells and noise.

Planners at Worcestershire County Council approved the application by Vale Green Energy to install a third anaerobic digester for organic waste at its Springhill Nurseries site on the A44 between Evesham and Pershore.

Vale Green Energy admitted a blockage in one of the tankers had been "a bit of a learning curve" and would use external agitators on the new insulated tank so the problem did not happen again.

The third storage tank will be built alongside two existing digesters that have been on the site since 2013.

The tanks produce methane gas from vegetable feedstock and maize, sending it to the national grid to create electricity.

Cllr Charlie Hotham questioned whether the building of a third tank would actually increase the capacity of the plant - and thus "magnify" the noise and smell.

He said: "My main concern is, by approving this, it increases the capacity of the plant and we have no control over that.

"We have heard from the applicant that they have no desire to increase capacity but there could be a change of ownership and we would have no control over the capacity of the plant."

Officers at the county council said the output of the tanks were restricted by the size of the technology in the application. Any plans to increase their size would have to go before the county council first.

Vale Green Energy insisted the third tank would bring greater efficiency - with the same amount of waste spread across three tanks rather than two. The extra tank would only bring an increase in the amount of gas produced but as the new tank would be insulated, no odour would be created.

Cllr Pat Agar said approving the application was a "no brainer" and the plans satisfied the main principles of sustainability.

Cllr Liz Eyre, who presents Fladbury parish, said odour had been a constant concern and she had kept a log since 2011 of all the complaints made by Evesham Golf Club, Fladbury Parish Council and local residents which had then been forwarded to County Hall.

Cllr Eyre said the council was finally taking the odour problem seriously.