A CAMPAIGN group protesting a proposed waste processing plant in South Marston says it will fight the developer’s appeal.

The Stop Keypoint Incinerator Project group has been against the plans since they were first put forward in 2016.

The scheme was unanimously rejected by the council because it felt that the developer hadn’t sufficiently demonstrated the need for it.

It also cited concerns about an industrial plant with a 52m chimney being built on Thornhill Road near a residential area.

But now developer Rolton Kilbride has submitted an appeal against the council’s decision.

SKIP chairman Robert Ayres said: “We very much hope the appeal will be held in Swindon as a public inquiry.”

Rolton Kilbride submitted the plans on behalf of landowner Legal & General Assurance Society Limited.

SKIP’s statement put the latter in its crosshairs.

It raised concerns with the way that the applicant’s legal counsel Anthony Crean QC claimed he would “put the council through the mincer” if the plans were rejected and suggested that the council would end up paying his costs.

Campaigner Maureen Dilly said: “I fail to see how having your interests represented by a barrister who issues a threat of expensive legal costs at a time when councils are under enormous financial pressure can be described as respectful.”

The group’s statement said: “L&G’s Code of Ethics says it will ‘always be open, honest and fair in our dealings with... the community at large and treat them with respect’.

“SKIP asks how persisting with a planning application in the face of a petition of over 3,000 signatures reflects respect for the community...”

The gasification plant would create energy by heating pre-treated domestic waste and burning off the gases released. It would burn 150,000 tonnes of refuse-derived fuel a year and operate 24/7.

SKIP argues that the renewable energy plant, which it refers to as an incinerator, would not reduce greenhouse emissions and suggested that Oxford University’s Bodleian Library long-term storage facility being situated at Keypoint made the site “completely inappropriate” for the plant.

Andrew Needham, Managing Director of Rolton Kilbride, said: “We recognise that people have concerns about the proposal and it has therefore always been very important to us that we provide clear and factual information. Further details about the project can be found on our website www.roltonkilbride.co.uk/swindon. Anyone with questions about the project can contact us via the website or by email swindon@roltonkilbride.co.uk.”