COUNCILLORS will decide tonight (March 27) whether they wish to appeal the Planning Inspector’s decision to give the go-ahead for a new £200 million waste incinerator in Westbury.

They have been called to an extraordinary meeting to receive a verbal report from the town council’s Incinerator Task and Finish Group.

It will include up-to- date advice from their legal advisers Leigh Day and other relevant parties following the planning inspector’s announcement on February 21 granting consent for the incinerator.

The meeting at 6pm at The Laverton will then decide whether the town council wishes to appeal the inspector’s decision to grant permission to Northacre Renewable Energy Limited for the energy-from-waste incinerator.

A town council spokesperson said: “The Task and Finish group will continue to monitor and investigate developments and bring any options that arise back to a future town council meeting.”

A spokesperson for the Westbury Gasification Action Group – No Westbury Incinerator said: “We believe that our community should know that they can turn out to hear and have a say if you want (in accordance with protocol of course) what the next steps of opposition could and will officially be.

“There is simply no question of our community accepting the inspector’s ruling on face value and giving up!”

WGAG says it is willing to commit a further £3,000 towards the existing campaign spend for Leigh Day Solicitors, with Westbury Town Council having spent in excess of £43,000 so far on legal advice and representation at the inquiry.

Planning inspector Stephen Normington gave the go-ahead for NREL to build the controversial incinerator with its 75-metre high chimney following a public planning inquiry that ended in December.

Wiltshire Council has already said that it will not appeal the inspector’s decision and ask for a judicial review.

It said: “The council does not intend to apply for a Judicial Review of the Secretary of State’s decision to grant planning permission to Northacre Renewable Energy for an energy from waste facility in Westbury.

But the spokesman added: “This decision doesn’t affect any member of the local community from pursuing their own legal action in respect of this matter.”

Westbury Town Council, local MP Dr Andrew Murrison, neighbouring town and parish councils and hundreds of local residents had objected strongly to the scheme.

NREL successfully appealed Wiltshire Council’s failure to give notice within the prescribed period of a decision on its application for planning permission.

The company – a joint venture between Swindon-based Hills Group and Bioenergy Infrastructure Group – had wanted to change the technology for the incinerator from advanced thermal treatment to moving grate combustion.

Wiltshire Council refused NREL planning permission in June last year on the grounds that the proposed development would generate substantial net carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over its lifetime and thereby failed to assist in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

NREL wants to burn non-recyclable waste to generate electricity for thousands of homes in Westbury. Its site on the Northacre Industrial Estate would employ around 60 people and incinerate around 243,000 tonnes of waste each year.

The plant would operate 24 hours a day but opponents are concerned about the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on air quality, the increase in lorry traffic and further congestion on the A350. It is estimated the site would generate an extra 78 HGV journeys a day.