Wey Valley campaigners find 'worrying evidence' against incinerator plans

The new facility would have two 80m (260ft) chimneys, protestors said

Campaigners have accused Hampshire County Council of covering up objections from its own officers to plans for a large incinerator in Alton.

The No Wey Incinerator group submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request and found a critical report had not been published.

The group said it also found evidence of attempts to "downgrade" objections.

Leader of the council, Rob Humby, said he was "confident" the planning process had been undertaken correctly.

The No Wey Incinerator group is fighting plans by waste management company, Veolia, to build an energy recovery facility with a commercial incinerator in the Wey Valley off the A31.

Campaign spokesman Ben Stanberry said they uncovered "worrying" evidence an objection by the council's landscape department in February was not made public.

'Reinforce people's fears'

According to the FOI, the landscape team were against the incinerator plans because it would cause an "unacceptable adverse visual impact" and would not "enhance the distinctive character of the Hampshire landscape".

Disclosed emails also revealed the planning department asked another council department to downgrade an objection in August.

The planning department's email said: "In terms of your overall response being an objection, can you please raise this as a holding objection rather than an outright objection?

"It's a controversial application and an apparent outright objection is likely to be jumped upon publicly."

Mr Stanberry said: "These recent revelations reinforce people's fears that the planning department's objectivity might be compromised.

"The landscape department's objection should have been posted on the council's planning website a short time after their planning department received it. Yet it failed to appear. "

No Wey Incinerator has now made the landscape objection public via it's website.

Mr Humby said: "It was purely an administrative oversight that led to a short delay in making the officer's initial comments public and this was rectified as soon as the omission came to light."

A public consultation is open for the plans until the end of November. The council is expected to make a decision early next year.