Gedney Drove End grower to hold meetings on new growing unit and update on Gedney Dyke traffic solution
A grower is sharing details of its new food production project and updating villagers on a potential solution to the issue with tractors and lorries at two meetings next week.
Stuart Piccaver is looking to create a hydroponics greenhouse in Gedney Drove End to create a more secure growing environment to protect his salad leaf crops which have been battered by more frequent hail storms.
However people in Gedney Dyke expressed concerns during a public meeting - which was held after JEPCO submitted a planning application for the unit - about speeding lorries and tractors thundering through their village.
The company has organised two informal sessions in Gedney Dyke and Gedney Drove End to share detail about this project along with the update on Monday, December 13.
Mr Piccaver said: “We are really excited by this project and we want to share the science behind it.
“We have made some progress on a potential traffic solution. We have spoken to one or two land owners and they are positive about trying to help where they can.”
Mr Piccaver is looking into changing how the firm grows some of its crops due to the impact of climate change.
He has lost hundreds of thousands of pounds as hail storms destroy crops in the Gedney Marsh area.
Mr Piccaver had previously told our sister paper, the Lincolnshire Free Press, that in the last five years, there have been five damaging hail stores where previously there had been one in 10 years.
Under the new proposal, the seed would be placed in a substraight and then moved around the greenhouse before exiting into the packing area.
The planning application submitted to South Holland District Council is currently on hold while a traffic survey is conducted following a public meeting in Gedney Dyke in October where concerns were expressed by villagers.
Meetings will be held on Monday, December 13, between 3pm and 4.45pm at Gedney Dyke Village Hall and 6.15pm to 8pm at Gedney Drove End Village Hall.
