A PETITION has been started to block a gas-fired power station on a farm in Wroughton.

Swindon Borough Councillor Cathy Martyn is asking residents to sign the petition to block the small and power plant on Wood Farm.

Conrad Energy an independent power provider has applied for permission to build a small power station at Wood Farm in Wroughton – run by Berkeley Farm Organic Dairy - which is looking to rent out the space on the farm to diversify.

Energy from the plant would be fed into the national grid during times of high-demand, claims the firm's planning application.

The councillor, who has got than 80 signatures so far, said: "Whilst I fully support the need for farmers to diversify due to the volatility of farm incomes through agriculture, farmland on the edge of existing housing and close to our beloved Prospect Hospice and Ladymead Care Home is not an appropriate site for an Industrial Gas Plant.

She added: "Wroughton is a small village surrounded by Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and to allow a developmental menace of this kind would set a dangerous precedent."

The petition can be found here.