People can quiz council leader over energy plant

The proposed site was home to an anaerobic digester which closed in 2012

Residents in a town are being urged to go to a drop-in session to find out more about a scheme to build an energy-from-waste plant.

Shropshire Council wants to turn a former anaerobic digester on Coder Road, Ludlow, into a unit producing biochar, a form of charcoal.

The authority intends to submit a planning application this month, said local councillor Andy Boddington.

The meeting, at Ludlow's library on Wednesday, from 14:00-19:30 GMT, will outline the scheme and take questions from the public.

The authority's leader, Lezley Picton, will be among those at the event.

The anaerobic digester - which broke down leftover food into compost and biogas, which was burnt to produce heat and electricity - closed in 2012.

Biochar is a type of charcoal made from wood, leftover crops and agricultural waste and is mainly used to improve soil quality, as a greener alternative to traditional fertilisers.

The proposed plant would use forest and agricultural vegetation and not food waste or manure, Mr Boddington said.

In October, the town's mayor, Beverley Waite, said it seemed the decision to go ahead had already been taken.

Shropshire Council waste official Mark Foxall said the usual planning process would still apply.