Buckinghamshire Council has rejected plans for a large biogas plant on land belonging to Harry Aubrey-Fletcher, one of Prince William's oldest friends, after fierce opposition from local residents.
Councillors on the authority's Strategic Sites Committee threw out the scheme earlier this month, despite planning officers recommending that it go ahead.
Aubrey-Fletcher, 44, had offered around 15 acres at Hornage Farm for the plant, proposed by Acorn Bioenergy, which would have turned crops and other organic matter into gas for the national network.
Aubrey-Fletcher attended Ludgrove School and Eton College with William and was an usher at his wedding to Catherine. He is godfather to their younger son, Prince Louis, and now advises the Duchy of Cornwall, the estate that funds the heir to the throne.
The 24-hour plant would have required five digester tanks, large crop-storage areas and two lagoons. As many as 140 lorry movements a day could have been allowed during peak harvest periods, raising fears over air pollution and road safety on the narrow country lanes around the site.
Eight parish councils objected to the scheme, and a campaign against it attracted more than 1,600 signatures. Critics also raised concerns about noise, odour and the impact on the countryside and nearby waterways.
Conservative MP Greg Smith, who campaigned against the plant, called it a 'monster of a proposal'. 'It's wrong, and frankly dangerous, for our communities and must be stopped,' he said.
Councillors said their decision reflected the priority given to community concerns over traffic and safety.
Alpacas leave Althorp for the season
The end of summer has brought a parting at Althorp, Earl Spencer's Northamptonshire estate, where Countess Spencer has spent months hoping to breed from the family's alpacas. Cat Jarman, the Norwegian archaeologist who is now Countess Spencer, has two children, while Earl Spencer, 62, has seven, but the couple's efforts this summer were aimed at their alpacas, Tyra and Andora.
'A sad goodbye to Tyra and Andora's boyfriends, who have stayed with us for the summer,' she said of the 'handsome boys', who returned to a stud farm in Warwickshire. 'Fingers crossed for 2027 alpaca babies.'
Florence Pugh's Aperol Spritz workout
Actress Florence Pugh, 30, has found a new way to combine exercise with an end-of-summer drink. In a video posted from Venice, she performed bicep curls holding a glass of Aperol Spritz, the Italian aperitif cocktail, in each hand.
'It was in the books for me to do a quick session with my trainer,' she said. 'By the time I got there, there was only 30 minutes spare, so I sent him this.'
Pugh, whose father Clinton Pugh is a former Oxford restaurateur, is known for her roles in Little Women and Oppenheimer. She is due to return to screens in December in Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday.
Sajid Javid escorted like a stranger at Westminster
Former home secretary Sir Sajid Javid was reminded how quickly political memories fade when he returned to the House of Commons for an event at Speaker's House. Javid, 56, once tipped to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister, had to be escorted to the reception, held for the Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion, by security guards along with the other invited visitors.
'They asked if I'd ever been to the House of Commons before,' he said. 'How short memories are in this place...'
Jonathan Aitken's first grandchild
Jonathan Aitken, 84, the former Conservative cabinet minister turned prison chaplain, has been eclipsed by his first grandchild. William Aitken Junior, named to distinguish him from his father, Jonathan's son William, 44, has already had his first swimming lesson, in the sea off Ibiza, his grandfather said at the boy's christening at St Matthew's Church in Westminster.
Aitken's career took him from war correspondent in Vietnam to a seat in Cabinet, before he served a seven-month prison term for perjury and perverting the course of justice. His own baptism, he noted, was attended by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and the future poet laureate John Betjeman.
Guests at the christening included Dame Mary Archer, Diane Abbott and former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. Ben Goldsmith persuaded about half the congregation to continue the celebrations at the Mayfair club 5 Hertford Street.
Richard Hammond winds up companies amid Mindy split
Richard Hammond, the former Top Gear presenter, appears to be preparing for a divorce settlement after leaving his wife Mindy for therapist Kiki Glen, 53, earlier this year. Hammond, 56, has put his production company, Hamster's Wheel Productions, into liquidation. The firm held £4 million in assets, according to its latest accounts.
He has also wound up the company that manages his former marital home, Bollitree Castle Estate Ltd. Richard and Mindy, 61, married in 2002 and were co-directors of both companies.
Jamie Oliver's stink bomb confession
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has admitted causing chaos at Newport Free Grammar School in Essex with a homemade stink bomb. 'I set aside hundreds of eggs to go off over months,' he said. 'I made kilos of a porridge with the most hideous off ingredients and made them into wraps like stink bombs. I took them in a suitcase to school and hid it, and I never said that I did it. There were kids crying, most of my year got detention. I was just watching it all play out and giggling like a gremlin.'
