Village's power plant victory (From Gazette & Herald)

Village's power plant victory

VILLAGERS have emerged triumphant in a long-running battle over the siting of a gas-powered electricity generator at a former landfill site.

For almost two years a 20-strong neighbourhood action group from Thornton-le-Dale has fought to move the proposed generator on the Caulklands landfill site away from their homes.

When North York Moors National Park Authority finally approved the application by Yorwaste strict conditions concerning emissions and noise were attached to the 25-year planning approval.

"All the villagers are pleased about the re-siting, even though we got told about 20 times that it couldn't be moved," said Sue Cowan, of High Street, Thornton-le-Dale, who led the action group.

"We always said that the generator was a good thing, just that we didn't want it near our homes. We've been fighting this for two years. This is the third planning application for various reasons. The other two were turned down because we objected to them being too near our homes."

Planning conditions state that the generator must not be switched on until silencers have been fitted to it and hedging and planting around it is completed.

An emissions summary is to be submitted to the planning authority every six months from the generator's first operation, and, after three months of it being switched on, the old tip flare stack should be removed.

Mrs Cowan said the villagers still had concerns about the site.

"We're just worried that as the tip produces more gases Yorwaste will introduce more generators willy-nilly," she said.

Mrs Cowan said she had been disappointed that she had not been able to see reports on the site from the Environment Agency, which has the statutory responsibility for the regulation of landfill sites.

Updated: 12:19 Wednesday, October 15, 2003