First Minister Alex Salmond is being asked to intervene to stop plans for a heat and power plant in Easter Ross that locals fear could create a health hazard.
Charles Coston, who lives at Inverbreakie Farmhouse, Invergordon, just 200 yards from the proposed site for the Combined Power and Heat (Highlands) Ltd development at Cromarty Firth Industrial Park, has written to Mr Salmond urging him to call in the planning application.
Mr Coston, who has objected to the planning application submitted to Highland Council, claims the council would be breaking its own structure policy if it approved the proposal.
He is also calling a public meeting to enable locals to learn more about the proposed facility, and is threatening to take legal action if the application is approved.
CPH (Highlands) says the plant would generate heat and electricity by incinerating up to 200 tonnes per day of household and non-hazardous industrial waste, which cannot be recycled – thus reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill which was not recyclable.
And the company has promised that it would create 20 full-time jobs and up to 100 more in the wider area.
But Mr Coston is concerned about the effects emissions from the plant could have on the health of people nearby.
He yesterday claimed the proposal was for an incinerator, dressed up as a heat and power plant to make it more acceptable to planners.
He added that, in England and Wales, a clear link had been shown between incinerators and higher birth mortality rates in communities downwind of the facilities.
And he pointed out that the council had a duty of care to the community that it served.
“This is highlighted by its own G8 policy, which states: ‘Where there are scientific grounds for believing that severe damage could occur either to the environment or the wellbeing of the communities, the council will apply the precautionary principle’.
“If they grant planning permission for this development, they will have broken their G8 policy,” said Mr Coston.
Highland Council principal planning officer Ken McCorquodale yesterday explained that the G8 policy to which Mr Coston referred, was guideline number 8 of the general Highland Council policy, which is based in its structure plan.
He said it could be applied when the potential impacts were uncertain, and said it would be for members to decide whether there were scientific grounds for believing they could result in severe damage to the environment or the wellbeing of communities in this case.
Mr McCorquodale added that the application was unlikely to be considered by the planning committee before October. Glenn Jones, who is managing director of CPH (Highlands), said their process would not produce any harmful emissions.