Bishop's Castle biomass protesters hopeful over decision

Campaigners waging a war on plans to build a controversial £5 million incinerator in a south Shropshire town today turned out in force at Shirehall for a crunch meeting to determine the project's fate.

Around 120 residents from Bishop's Castle made the 25-mile journey to Shrewsbury for a Shropshire Council cabinet meeting to call for plans for a biomass burner at Bishop's Castle Business Park to be thrown out.

Coaches were also put on by members of the Bishop's Castle Group, which has helped co-ordinate the campaign, and scores of campaigners listened to events at the meeting unfold through a live feed broadcasting the meeting into the council chamber at Shirehall.

The decision by cabinet earlier this year to allocate land to Bishop's Castle Biomass Power for the incinerator is being reconsidered after it was called in by local councillors.

Reconsider

Members of Shropshire Council's development services scrutiny committee urged cabinet to reconsider following a meeting attended by 300 residents at Bishop's Castle Community College last month.

They also called for the tendering process for the land to be re-opened so alternative proposals such as a community care farm could be considered.

Since the decision was made to refer the issue back to cabinet, Bishop's Castle woodchip suppliers Ransfords timber merchants and sawmillers have withdrawn their support for the project.

Paula Middleton, Secretary of the Bishop's Castle Group, said: "We've had 106 people come on the coaches and a lot more have come of their own steam.

"These people have come to stand up and be counted and we are still really hopeful.

"This is another opportunity for the people of Bishop's Castle to make their voices heard."

Jim Collin, of The Kemp Valley Group, which fought off a similar proposal at a site at Brockton, said: "These incinerators have the potential to pollute far and wide.

"The idea that Bishop's Castle has a good quality of air that they can afford to pollute is farcical.

"This relies totally on old and cheap technology that's inefficient and we fear it could be used for trade waste in the future."

By Peter Kitchen