Fears village could become "waste capital" of Hampshire (From Daily Echo)

Fears village could become "waste capital" of Hampshire

6:21am Thursday 25th October 2012 in News

Impression of what site may look like

A PIONEERING energy plant could turn a village into the “waste capital of Hampshire”, campaigners say.

More than 150 concerned residents packed into Micheldever Station’s Warren Hall to discuss plans for a power station fuelled entirely from waste.

Chief among concerns were a loss of green space, noise and dust, the smell from emissions and a potentially devastating impact on property prices.

Plans from Clean Power Properties and Network Rail Infrastructure were slammed by members of the Micheldever Action Group as “full of uncertainty and misleading statements”.

Campaigner Adrian Bates said: “It’s not Nimbyism. At first, perhaps it may have appeared that way. But the more we looked into it, we realised that this power station should not be anywhere at all.”

The proposal would see the site at Micheldever Station bring together in one place autoclaves, pyrolysis and anaerobic digesters to convert waste into energy. It is thought to be the first of 16 such sites that could appear throughout the country.

Winchester Action for Climate Change (WinACC) director Chris Holloway said: “We’ve been dismayed by the lack of information from Clean Power Properties. We just cannot tell what the impact on climate change will be.

“We’re not in a position to say this will be a good scheme because we have not got the information.”

Last month it was revealed that up to 210,000 tonnes of domestic and commercial waste per year could be transported to the site.

Nick Hurrell, of Overton Road, presented the action group’s findings to residents and estimates that the centre would bring 15,000 lorries a year to the area, or one lorry every six minutes.

He said: “They’re saying there are no houses nearby but we live maybe 50 metres away.”

A spokesman for Clean Power Properties said: “We’re not proposing to drive through the village. It does not go near the village.”

The spokesman also dismissed concerns about the smell of emissions, saying: “The emissions are fairly trivial because of the degree to which the waste is processed. It’s all indoors – this is not a landfill site.”

Representatives for developers say they did not attend the latest meeting because they were not invited.

In response to WinACC’s complaints that information was not forthcoming, they said answers were provided but that time-consuming research was required first.

County chiefs insist additional facilities are needed to deal with 600,000 tonnes of waste by 2030, but residents say the proposals run counter to the council’s 20-year minerals and waste plan.

The county council’s environment boss Cllr Mel Kendal previously stressed that developers would need planning permission before sites could be developed.