by Mary Vancura. 28 August 2008
A SITE visit that could determine the future of the proposed biomass power plant at Kidwelly has yet to be confirmed by Carmarthenshire Council.
In June, the council’s planning committee deferred a decision on the controversial plans for the wood-burning power station on the site of the Coedbach washery, in order to visit a similar operation in either Cambridgeshire or Lockerbie in
Head of planning Eifion Bowen has this week said that the visit was not set in stone and would depend on further judgement.
“We are setting up a meeting with the developer and our public protection department has asked for a health impact assessment,” he said.
“We will wait to see the outcome of the meeting before we decide where to visit.”
The World Health Organisation defines a health impact assessment as: “a combination of procedures, methods and tools by which a project may be judged as to its potential effects on the health of a population, and the distribution of those effects within the population.”
Members of the action group opposing the plans said they were becoming frustrated at the lack of swift progress they were seeing on the matter.
Coedbach Action Group representative Pauline Bowers– whose home lies just a kilometre from the site– said: “We all want to see this moving on quickly,” she said. “It’s a little worrying that we hardly seem to be closer to the site visit than in June, as it is holding up the consideration of the whole application.”
Clive Hughes, the local businessman whose company Bio E, is behind the £70 million plans– which would generate up to 50 megawatts of renewable electricity per year- welcomed Mr Bowen’s approach to the plans, citing it as rigorous and necessary.
“I fully endorse any exploration of the plans being carried out by Mr Bowen,” he said.