Video: £50 million incinerator plan is rejected
Protest over Peterhead scheme
Published:
PLANS for a £50 million incinerator in Peterhead were this afternoon thrown out.
Aberdeenshire Councillors today met to make a decision on the controversial waste-to-energy plant planned for the town.
And the scheme was rejected by 49 votes to 13, with one member refusing to vote.
More than 100 people demonstrated outside Aberdeen’s Woodhill House, voicing their views on the plans ahead of this afternoon’s decision.
John Askey, part of the campaign against the incinerator, said: “This is a victory for people power and for democracy in Aberdeenshire.
“The councillors have listened to the people of Peterhead. I am very pleased and I will open up the champagne tonight.”
Chairman of Score Group, Charles Ritchie, who had voiced his opposition to the plans, said: “We commend councillors for putting the interests of Peterhead uppermost.”
A spokeswoman for Buchan CHP, the firm behind the plans, said: “We are disappointed that our vision for a clean and green waste energy plant at Upperton Industrial Estate has been rejected.
“We will take some time to digest the committee’s findings before making a decision on any future plans for the development.”
Residents had claimed the plant’s 200ft (60.9m) stack would cause a health risk.
The firm behind the £50 million plans said it had looked at 50 sites in the North-east before deciding on Peterhead.
But officials insisted applicants, Buchan Combined Heat and Power (CHP), had not demonstrated Peterhead was the “most appropriate location” for the facility.
