Power to the people or a biomass of trouble?

1:00pm Tuesday 9th October 2007

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THE SPECTRE of a 70-foot high chimney on the fringe of Bournemouth Airport belching fumes into the air over the greenbelt has cast a cloud over plans for a wood-fired power station at Hurn.

Eco-composting is seeking approval from Dorset county council for its pioneering scheme to develop a biomass generator on its Parley Lane complex to turn scrap wood into electricity.

The biomass process, already widely used in Europe where wood chippings piling up at Parley are currently being shipped to fire furnaces in Germany, is claimed to minimise emissions by burning wood at ultra-high temperatures and fitting filters in the smoke stack.

But the scheme has ignited local opposition from Hurn parish council concerned at the fall out from the proposed 22-metre high smoke stack and the blot of the landscape it will create.

And tomorrow Christchurch borough council's planning control committee is being recommended by its officers to lodge a formal objection to the biomass scheme when it comes before county planners later in the year.

In his report to the committee planning officer Giles Moir argued the bio energy facility would be harmful to the greenbelt setting and threaten surrounding heathland areas of special scientific interest and the applicants had failed to prove special circumstances to outweigh the harm.

He said proposed landscaping, including willow plantations to provide additional fuel for the facility, would not screen the power station complex, especially the tall chimney which would be highly visible in an area of largely open land.

Mr Moir also questioned claims that biomass burning was the best available technology for dealing with wood waste and raised concerns at the impact of gases including nitrogen compounds being emitted into the air and falling on environmentally sensitive sites.

"While it is acknowledge that measures will be in place to reduce the level of harmful emissions, the environmental statement identifies that these will have very limited impact on the reduction of emissions," he said.