Campaigners' four year battle ends after energy giant Helius scraps £300million wood-fuelled station plan for Southampton docks

Energy giant Helius announced it was scrapping plans for the controversial £300million wood-fuelled station in the city's docks due to financial problems.

The firm is preparing to delist from the stock exchange and sell 50 per cent of its stake in their only active power plant in Scotland to recoup cash following plummeting share prices.

It means plants proposed for Southampton and Bristol will not go ahead.

Last night it was unclear that the site on land on the opposite side of the A33 from communities in Freemantle will be used for in future.

But it is understood it could be used to expand car handling operations already taking place at the docks.

The plant's demise marks the climax of a four year battle by residents who feared the plant and its 100m (328ft) chimney would tower over their homes and pollute the air.

Helius claimed the 100megawatt (MW) Southampton site, announced in 2011, could produce enough energy to power 200,000 homes and save the equivalent of 470,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.

But campaigners questioned the ethics of hacking down from forests thousands of miles away and shipping them to Southampton to burn.

Residents set up the No Southampton Biomass Group which launched a series of protest marches and demonstrations.

Group founder Steve Galton who is also a councillor for Millbrook said: “This is the news we have all been waiting for. It's a shame Helius previously refused to admit what we all knew, their plans just didn't stack up.

“Despite their claims, their energy has never been green.

“However the proof is in the pudding as Helius finally admit defeat and we have been proven correct.”

Colin MacQueen, spokesman for the Western Docks Consultation Forum (WDCF), said: “We are delighted that common sense has prevailed. Imagine walking out of your door and seeing this monster of a plant? The scale would have been difficult to comprehend.”

Cllr Jeremy Moulton who represents Freemantle hailed it as a “huge sigh of relief”, adding: “All the campaigning, leaflets, posters, public meetings and lobbying of ministers have finally paid off.”

It follows months of uncertainty for the company after an unnamed investor pulled out of the Avonmouth deal in October 2014 while the company made a raft of redundancies in a £1m cost-cutting measure.

Last year Southampton City Council passed a motion refusing to utilise any heat being produced by the plant.

Council leader Cllr Simon Letts said it is a “cross party victory” and said: “It's really positive news and let's hope that ABP have more positive use for the land there.”

But Hampshire Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stewart Dunn (pictured above) said: “This is another blow to alternative energy.

“It is imperative to both business and domestic properties that supplies are protected and as energy becomes more scarce.”

In a statement, Helius said: “Despite extensive efforts to secure finance over the past three years, the company has been unable to obtain the required equity funding to meet the full construction costs of the project [Avonmouth].

“Given that it has not been possible to obtain funding for the Avonmouth Project within the available timescales, the board does not consider that the company will be able to deliver the Southampton Project.”

An ABP spokesman said: “ABP has undertaken to accommodate the proposed scheme should it achieve the requisite planning approval and consent and therefore required port facilities in order to import the necessary material.

“Throughout the time there was an option on the site for a biomass facility.

“The proposed location is being fully utilised in order to support the port's core markets. The majority of the site is currently subject to a multi million pound investment that when complete will increase the storage capability for the automotive sector.”