Controversial plans for a sulphur plant at the heart of Southampton Docks have been given the green light by council chiefs.

Grumbles rang out among the public benches in Southampton Civic Centre as councillors approved an application from Oxbow Sulphur and Fertlisier to build a sulphur pastillation plant in land off West Bay Road in Freementle.

Afterwards Ron Summers from the Maybush Residents Association said: "This is discraceful and has been a shambolic waste of time. I think this whole thing has been wrapped up already."
The plant, which will be the first of its kind in Britain and will receive  liquid sulphur from the Fawley Refinery which will be transferred into droplet sized pellets to ship abroad to be used as pharmaceuticals and fertilisers.

Earlier Mr Summers told the meeting he feared it would pollute the air and cause extra noise for residents.

He told the panel:  "My biggest worry is the ashtma as breathing problems in this city have reached an unbelievable level.

"It's going to be detrimental to the environment."

Freemantle ward Tory councillor Jeremy moulton also feared the site is too close to neighbouring houses and claimed oxbow's previous application which was approved by officers in March last year,  should have been heard by the council's panel too.

He added: "Something this large should have come to the panel.

"People feel this is a sideshow because its already been given go ahead."

Steve Galton, member of No Southampton Biomass, pointed out the scheme is within a mile of the proposed huge Helius biomass power station and claimed the artists impressions do not give a true reflection of its size.

He added: "It looks like a small plant but what will people see."

But Oxbow project manager Rick Bloom stressed the application was an improvement on the a previous bid and that technology would remove odour down to "barely detectable levels".

He said: "We have chosen this site to have very little impact on neighbours.

"The local impact on the environment is negligible."

He warned they would go ahead with the previous one if this one was not accepted.

Council officer Richard Plume denied pictures were distorted and said it was a small application initially not needing consultation. He added: "This is very different than the Helius application."

Panel chair Cllr Susan Blatchford agreed the revised application  was an improvement on the previous bid  and added: "The emissions are well below the government targets.

"I would hope they will try and be a good neighbour and have a community consultation in a year or so.

The plant will create 50 jobs in its construction phase and 12 permanent roles.

After the meeting Oxbow business development Vice President Mike Verachtert said: "we were always looking forward to being part of the Southampton community.

"We will be starting work on the site in September and are committed to continuing our engagement with the community as our scheme progresses."

But Maybush residents association member Chrissie Cassell from Redbridge Hill said: " We have been ignored. Who is going to pay when the health problems in the area go up - Southampton General  Hospital?"

Fremantle ward Labour Cllr  Dave Shields was  angry and disappointed at the result and added: "There was incompetence in not bringing this earlier to committee. This could have been avoided."