Cheshire West and Chester Councillors have granted planning permission for a 20 mw biomass renewable energy plant at the Ince Resource Park – but only after being advised that there were no 'defendable grounds' to reject it.

Operated by Peel Energy Limited, the plant will create electricity for 37,000 homes which will be fed into the National Grid.

The feedstock will be 70 percent waste wood and 30 percent virgin timber, all in pellet form.

The Strategic Planning Committee spent two hours in a lengthy debate, discussing the application and evaluating whether there were any sustainable grounds for refusal.

Councillors at first turned down the recommendation for approval but were advised by officers that they needed strong planning grounds based on clear evidence that would be defendable in the event of an appeal.

Significantly there had not been an objection from the Primary Care Trust or from Environmental Health specialists within the Council.

A second vote was taken and this time after further discussion Councillors were in favour of the planning application by six votes to three after full consideration of all the options available to them.

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Council Spokesman Ian Callister, said: "Members were advised that they risked going to a highly expensive appeal, potentially costing hundreds of thousands of pounds of Council Tax payers money, without grounds to justify the case."

A representative of Peel told Councillors at the start of the meeting that in regard to health risk, detailed assessments had shown that the planning for worst case assumptions on admissions revealed that the development would still operate within acceptable conditions.

Planning permission had already been granted for a bio-ethanol plant at the same location.

Helsby Councillor Les Ford said: "The new plant has an 85m stack compared to the 30m stack for the bio-ethanol plant. Why? Is it because the new proposal will produce far more particulate emissions than the original proposal? Highly likely as this is a controlled bonfire compared with a liquid digestion system.

"Both Helsby and Frodsham Parish Councils have objected to this proposal on the grounds that the new plant is not using the best technology and the other on the grounds that the new plant does not involve a great deal of resource recovery but uses virgin wood. I concur with both positions."

Councillor Ford requested the measurement of particulate emissions to give assurance to the local population that their health is being looked after.

After the meeting, Strategic Planning Committee Chairman Councillor Myles Hogg, said: "The planning application before us was considered in great detail and the majority of members voted for approval with the inclusion of a condition for air quality monitoring in Helsby, as requested by the Parish Council, for the life of the scheme.

"This will sample air quality both before and after the development for particulates and, amongst others, dioxins and heavy metals including mercury, arsenic, chromium and nickel."

Lorries will make 37 trips daily in and out of the site to bring in the wood pellets and a new rail line and rail head will be built as well as an upgrade of the existing berth adjacent to the Manchester Ship Canal will take place.

(CD/GK)