Outrage as burner gets go-ahead

People in Bishop's Castle, who have been fighting the plans for more than two years, said they were disgusted by the decision and have now called an emergency meeting for Monday night to decide their next steps.

Bishop's Castle Biomass Power Limited was yesterday granted approval to build and operate the plant in the town's Crowgate Industrial Estate following an eight-day public inquiry, held in March and April.

The combined heat and power plant, fuelled by locally sourced wood chips and wood-energy crops, will generate 2.5 megawatts of electricity, enough to supply 2,500 homes in the area.

Challenge

But Karen Bavastock, chairman of the Bishop's Castle Group, said members were still determined to prevent the burner going ahead.

She said: "We can claim some minor victories in some of the conditions we helped to negotiate, however there are still a number of concerning things in the report which we would like to challenge but we have got to decide whether we have the financial capability to do so.

"I have called an emergency meeting of the group for Monday night to look at the report and decide where we go from here."

A spokesman for the consortium of local farmers who are behind BCBP said: "The new power plant will help provide jobs for people in the town and on the surrounding land, and is of vital importance to help farmers, land owners and other local businesses diversify in order to survive and thrive in these difficult times."

Niall Blackie, partner and head of planning at FBC Manby Bowdler, which represented BCBP at the inquiry, said: "We are grateful to the inspector for the care which he took in ensuring that all the issues that people had raised were fully discussed before him and we are pleased that he came to the conclusion that the impact on the countryside would not be unacceptable."

By Russell Roberts