Online petition against incinerator goes live
Resident action group West Berkshire Against the Grundon Incinerator has started the petition on its website
AN online petition opposing plans to build a powerful waste incinerator in Chieveley has gone live.
Resident action group West Berkshire Against the Grundon Incinerator (WBAGI) has addressed the petition to West Berkshire Council on its website, which can be accessed by clicking the link below.
It states the group's strong objections to proposals by Grundon to build an energy from waste plant, capable of powering 50,000 homes per year, at Old Kiln Quarry, in Chieveley, and calls on the council to refuse planning application when the waste firm lodges plans.
Paper copies will also be circulated at various road-show events the group is to carry out across the district.
Simon Conington, the vice chairman of WBAGI, said the online petition did not negate the need to write individual, formal letters of objection to West Berkshire Council but would show the level of support the group had.
“The public kept asking if we had a petition they could sign to show West Berkshire Council the strength of feeling against the proposed Grundon waste incinerator and it seemed an appropriate time to start that process,” he said.
There is still no news from Grundon on when it intends to submit planning permission for the incinerator since it announced it was to reduce the height of the emission flues from 85m to 75m.
The plant would generate approximately 33.5 megawatts of electricity from burning 350,000 tonnes of waste per year.
The firm is also yet to submit all the relevant details for separate planning application it has lodged to extend its soft sand operations to the north and south of the existing access road near Junction 13 of the M4.
West Berkshire Council has said it needs these details from Grundon before it can make a decision on the application and has requested more information from the firm.
The decision to grant or deny permission, which was expected to take in May, is now looking unlikely to happen until later in the year.
