A PLANNING meeting to decide whether to grant or refuse permission for a new gasification plant in South Marston will be held tomorrow at the Steam Museum. 

A decision on the planning application for the waste recycling facility, which has met with opposition from local residents, will be reached by a panel of councillors, in a meeting held in the larger venue due to anticipated public interest.

The meeting will begin at 6pm, and members of the public who have registered with the committee clerk will be able to have their say on the proposed development.

Last week, planning officers recommended that the application for the development be rejected but councillors will have the final say. 

Alongside those from local residents, the planning committee have also received objections from the nearby South Marston Church of England Primary School and the University of Oxford, whose Bodleian Library book storage facility is nearby.

Rolton Kilbride, the firm which has submitted the application, insists that the facility would take advantage of a new process called gasification, which recycles waste and produces electricity through a highly efficient conversion process.

But those who oppose the plan say it amounts to little more than an incinerator, and highlight concerns over pollution in surrounding areas. 

In addition, with too great a demand for the immediate area, it has been suggested the plant would require waste to be shipped in from further afield, adding to traffic on congested roads.

Rolton Kilbride were unable to provide a comment ahead of the final decision on the application.