Outcry over biofuel plan at Ironbridge Power Station

Petitions carrying hundreds of signatures will be handed over to Shropshire Council in protest against plans to trial the use of biofuel at Ironbridge Power Station.

Environmental campaigners will protest outside Shirehall in Shrewsbury before planners decide on an application by energy giant E.ON to build a storage site for wood pellets, which they claim will safeguard more than 100 jobs.

But three pressure groups – Biofuelwatch and the Shrewsbury and Telford Friends of the Earth groups – maintain the plans could cause 'significant international environmental damage' to forests in North America, where the wood is sourced.

A paper petition containing more than 200 signatures as well as an e-petition with more than 60 names on it will be presented to council officers prior to the meeting which will decide on E.ON's plans.

The proposals are part of wider aims to convert the power plant from coal to a wood biofuel plant and it would run on a trial basis until 2015.