SEWAGE from Rayleigh and Canvey could power homes in Basildon if plans are approved.

Anglian Water wants to increase the size of its sewage works in Courtauld Road, Basildon, by 7.4 acres to accommodate the growth of the town.

It also wants to bring in more sludge from Rayleigh – where an old treatment plant will close – and Canvey.

The company wants to build an anaerobic digester at the site, where sludge would be processed to produce biogas. This would then be converted into 7,000 megawatts of electricity a year – enough to power 1,589 homes.

However, if approved by Essex County Council, the application would see the number of vehicles visiting the site nearly double from the current 178 to 310 a week by 2021.

It is next door to the site of the proposed county council waste plant in Courtauld Road, which could see up to 400 vehicle movements a day if built.

The sewage site currently imports sludge from treatment plants at Canvey, but wants to extend this to include Rayleigh West.

There have been complaints about odours in the past, but the company believes the enhancements will actually reduce the problem.

Ciaran Nelson, Anglian Water spokesman, said: “Bringing additional sludge in will help increase the amount of renewable energy generated from biogas at our improved treatment works.

“This will be a more efficient way to treat sewage, and the generation of renewable energy on site will help us reduce our carbon footprint in the region.

“Regarding odour, we are confident there will be no additional impact. We hope to make some improvements through the installation of the advanced digestion plant, which will have odour-control equipment built into its development.” He said bringing in more sludge would increase traffic, but added: “Significant reductions in the export of other materials from the site will help balance any increases out, meaning the increase is likely to be small. We believe they will have a negligible impact on surrounding roads.”

Construction of the sewage plant would take 17 months from November to March 2012, between 7.30am and 6pm, when there would be 25 vehicle movements a day.