More than 1,500 people have added their names to a petition against plans for a £5 million biomass power station in Tenbury Wells, campaigners said today.The Tenbury Action Group is calling for the proposal, which mirrors similar proposals to construct a plant on Bishop’s Castle industrial estate, to be dropped.
The group had a stall at the Tenbury car boot sale yesterday when hundreds more people added their names to a petition, taking the total to 1,500 signatures.
Action group chairman Phil Wakeman said: “The power station would lose jobs, not create them. It would increase carbon emissions, not reduce them. It would cost millions of pounds and receive millions more as subsidy in the years ahead.
“And once the subsidies end, it would close, leaving Tenbury with a white elephant and a blighted business park.
“In the meantime, residents would have to endure trucks thundering through Tenbury at any time of day or night, and we would suffer from reduced air quality, with possible smog-like effects if temperature and wind conditions were right.”
There will be a public meeting at The Regal, Tenbury Wells, on April 24, to give people a chance to hear both sides of the argument as representatives from the developers will be at the event, along with members of the action group.
The action group is also meeting tonight to discuss the next stage of its fight.
Meanwhile, a group set up to explore plans for a similar plant in Bishop’s Castle will meet tomorrow.
The Bishop’s Castle Group is chaired by Steve Middleton, with Michael Dawes and Andrew Cunningham as vice-chairmen, and Karen Bavastock is secretary. She said: “We are not a protest group. We want to find out more about the plans and if the plant is proved to be a good thing for Bishop’s Castle, the Bishop’s Castle Group will support it.
“We do not want to see a good opportunity wasted. However, there are a good many questions to be answered first.”
The group will meet at 8pm in the Boar’s Head.
Chris Day, of CJ Day Associates, is the agent behind both plants.
By Sally Jones
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