MORE than 120 people have responded to the Environment Agency objecting to an application submitted by Northacre Renewable Energy Ltd.

The joint venture company, comprising Swindon-based Hills Group and Bioenergy Infrastructure Group, has applied for an operating permit for its proposed £200 million waste-to-energy incinerator at Westbury.

Most responses to the operating permit application contain strong objections saying it will increase air pollution, harm public health and lead to an increase in heavy goods vehicle traffic using the A350 and local roads.

The company has yet to hear whether Wiltshire Council has approved its planning application to change the advanced thermal technology to moving grate combustion.

So far, South Wiltshire MP Dr Andrew Murrison, 16 local councils, the Westbury Gasification Action Group/No Westbury Incinerator, and scores of local residents have objected to the scheme.

Wiltshire Council's own climate team in economic development and planning has also changed its holding objection to a full objection on the grounds of carbon impact.

Ariane Crampton, the council's head of carbon reduction, says NREL's plans and Wiltshire Council's own carbon reduction targets have changed significantly since the company's planning application was first made in 2018.

She added: "There has been a material change in policy and a material change in size and scale of the proposals from processing 160,000 tonnes per annum waste to 243,000 tpa waste.

"The site will emit carbon dioxide. This is considered to be on a much greater scale than that suggested in the Northacre carbon assessment report, which has been peer reviewed by the University of Exeter."

The plant would sit alongside Hills Group's existing Northacre Resource Recovery Centre waste treatment facility on the Northacre Industrial Estate in Westbury.

NREL says: "If granted permission for the change in technology, we would have an opportunity to build a state-of-the-art facility, which addresses the pressing need for a sustainable long-term solution to non-recyclable waste in Wiltshire."

The Environment Agency has just extended the public consultation by a month on the operating permit application. Residents now have until February 21 to comment at https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/psc/ba13-4we-northacre-renewable-energy-limited/