Welcome to the Little Oak Biogas Proposals Website
A planning application has now been submitted
A planning application has now been submitted to Ashford Borough Council for our Little Oak Biogas proposals near Bethersden.
Little Oak would be a source of green gas produced with the support of local farmers.
The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Future Biogas, one of the largest and most experienced operators of biogas plants in the UK. Future Biogas works with more than 400 farmers, who produce sustainable energy crops as part of their rotations. Growing these crops provides local farming communities with diversification opportunities and supports the rural economy.
We held an exhibition at Bethersden Village Hall in January this year which gave councillors and members of the public the opportunity to learn more about the proposals and to ask any questions they may have had. All the material available at the exhibition can be found on this website.
Since then, the red line boundary has been slightly amended to increase the area included for biodiversity net gain. An updated image is provided below.
The submitted plans, which have been given the reference PA/2025/2259, are now available on the Ashford Borough Council planning portal, https://abcportal.ashford.gov.uk/pr/s/planning-application/a0hTw000003y60oIAA/pa20252259?c__r=Arcus_BE_Public_Register
About Us
Little Oak Biogas is a wholly owned subsidiary of Future Biogas, one of the largest and most experienced operators of biogas plants in the UK.
Since 2010 Future Biogas has developed and built 12 biogas sites as in-house projects and in addition we manage and operate plants developed by third parties.
Future Biogas works with over 400 farmers, producing sustainable energy crops as part of their rotations. Growing energy crops provides local farming communities with diversification opportunities and supports the rural economy.
Towards a renewable future
The use of more and more “home-grown” renewable energy will not only help in the fight against climate change, it will also help to reduce the country’s reliance on overseas sources of energy.
Scientific evidence shows that climate change is a danger to us all, wherever we may live, and that it is a significant threat to British agriculture and our food security.
Traditionally, Britain relied on coal, which was abundant, as the source for all electricity and gas. In the 1970s, North Sea gas replaced this coal gas in the nation’s cookers, boilers and factories.
Although cleaner than coal, North Sea gas, which is methane, still produces carbon emissions which contribute to climate change. In the 1990s, gas was increasingly used to generate electricity.
Today, much of the gas we use is imported from our neighbours in the North Sea, and even from as far afield as the USA and until recently, Russia.
Big strides have been taken in generating more and more electricity from renewable sources such as solar farms and offshore wind.
Future Biogas is helping to decarbonise the nation’s gas supply by producing net zero biogas which is pumped directly into the network that supplies the country’s needs.
To fuel this gas production, Future Biogas partners with local farmers to grow energy crops as part of sustainable food rotations and incentivise the decarbonisation of agriculture.
We are also committed, through our Project Carbon Harvest initiative, to capturing and permanently storing atmospheric CO2, a major contributor to climate change.
What is Biogas?
Like the North Sea gas most people are used to, biogas is simply methane, so it can be pumped directly into the existing gas network.
But unlike North Sea and similar fossil fuel gasses, Biogas can be created using crops such as maize or rye, which are easily grown in the UK.
To create this new gas supply, Future Biogas does not use waste material such as manure, only crops grown locally, especially for the proposed facility.
Because it is not a fossil fuel, biogas does not release additional carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a leading cause of climate change, into the atmosphere.
Instead, the CO2 that occurs as a byproduct of biogas production is that which has been absorbed from the atmosphere by the crops used in the process as they grow.
The process used is called anaerobic digestion. This process creates:
• Biomethane - which is pumped directly into the gas network.
• CO2 - which is captured and permanently stored.
• Biofertiliser - which is returned to the soil to help new crops grow.
Biogas, like the North Sea gas used in many homes, is colourless and odourless, and in itself, non-toxic. The smell people get when lighting a gas hob, for instance, is actually a harmless chemical called mercaptan which is added to our supplies to give warnings of leaks.
Just like fossil fuel gas, biogas can be used for cooking and heating, but also to produce greener fertilisers, low carbon glass and even clean aviation fuels.