Westbury plant: Meeting on £200m project to be live streamed

NREL said the new incinerator could create 40 permanent jobs

A delayed planning meeting to decide the fate of a controversial £200m incinerator will be live streamed to ensure people who want to watch it can.

A plant in Westbury, Wiltshire, was previously given permission in 2019 but its operators want to alter their plan.

Northacre Renewable Energy Limited (NREL) wants to move from a gasification plant to one using "moving grate combustion".

Wiltshire Council has received hundreds of submissions about the project.

Objectors, including South Wiltshire MP Andrew Murrison, have complained that the combustion plant would be more environmentally damaging than the plant previously approved.

'No conclusive links'

A NREL spokesperson said while concerns over air quality, emissions and pollution control have been raised, a Public Health England and Scottish Government study showed "no conclusive links to health effects from waste incinerators".

The new plant could treat about 243,000 tonnes of residual waste a year, up from about 160,000 tonnes at the plant approved in 2019. NREL said it would also create 40 jobs.

A strategic planning meeting will be held to decide the plan at County Hall in Trowbridge on 22 June.

The council's cabinet member for strategic planning Nick Botterill said the meeting had initially been planned for earlier in June, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

"We know how important this meeting is to many residents, so we are live streaming it on Facebook and YouTube to allow more people to watch the proceedings", Mr Botterill said.