SIR,
I have been sent the link to your article about a proposed biomass plant because for nearly four years I have been involved locally, at Bishop's Castle in Shropshire, in opposing a 2.5 M/W plant.
As part of a group of residents who set up a committee to weigh it up, we soon found that it gave us enough grounds to oppose it.
We have been to Shirehall in Shrewsbury to speak to the county councillors about the plant, and the decision rests in their hands.
Yet we have found that they have precious little idea of what they are voting on.
Initially, they wanted to build a pyrolysis gasification plant there, to burn black bin waste and for a year, the villagers opposed it and the developers asked a character called Chris Day to do a feasibility study on it.
"It's the wrong technology, in the wrong place, at the wrong time," he reported, and I see that Dr Van Steenis said the same thing in your article.
We do not feel confident that the local authority will monitor the plant.
Bishop's Castle is a small, historic market town on a hillside and the valley is well known for trapping smoke or fog through temperature inversion, which would also trap the particulates emanating from the biomass plant.
I would be interested to hear of a local contact because some of us might be able to attend any public meetings about this in your area or pass on any information that may be of help.
Paula Middleton
(Shropshire)
• If you are interested in contacting Paula, get in touch with the Beacon and we will be able to pass your details on.