Nottinghamshire County Council has extended the consultation period for local people to have their say on a planning application for the proposed development of the Bilsthorpe Energy Centre.
The facility, which is proposed to be constructed on land at the Former Bilsthorpe Colliery, off Eakring Road, Bilsthorpe would manage waste materials utilising a Plasma Gasification process to produce electricity.
The planning application consultation period was launched on the 5 December 2013 and was originally due to finish on 20 January 2014. However, it will now run until Friday 7 February 2014, giving people more time to submit their views.
Sally Gill, Head of Planning at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “When the planning application was originally put out to consultation at the beginning of December 2013, we increased the statutory three-week period of public consultation to six and half weeks in acknowledgement of the scale of the proposals and the Christmas and New Year period.
“However, since the consultation began, local County Councillors, the local MP and a number of local residents have expressed concern that even this extended period of time is not sufficient for them to study the application and register their concerns.
“In acknowledgement of these concerns, the County Council is extending the consultation period further until Friday 7 February 2014.
“We believe this new end date allows sufficient time for local residents to submit their representations without unnecessarily delaying the processing of the application.”
Details of the planning application can be inspected locally at Bilsthorpe Library and also at Nottinghamshire County Council and Newark and Sherwood Offices in West Bridgford and Kelham. The documents are also available to view on-line through the Nottinghamshire County Council website. Please click here.
A number of residents have expressed concern over the proposal. Please find more details at www.bilsthorpe.com/rage.
To sign the petition against the proposed incinerator please go to: www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/bilsthorperage