The final inquiry to decide if the Westbury Incinerator will be built has begun.

Over one hundred protestors against the waste incinerator including town councillors and residents were outside the Laverton on Bratton Road in Westbury in before the meeting began there at 10am on November 22.  

Some held placards saying, “we need clean air” and others wore gas masks as a statement against the pollution they say the incinerator will bring.  

This meeting is the first in a series lasting until December 8 when it will finally be decided if the incinerator can be built by a government inspector. 

Wiltshire Council voted down the incinerator plans in July, but developers Northacre Renewable Energy appealed and the final decision is now in the inspectors’ hands.  

MP for South West Wiltshire Andrew Murrison, who represents Westbury is fiercely opposed to the plans and spoke at the meeting where he strongly objected.  

 He said, “It would naturally involve lots of big lorries travelling long distances partially loaded adding to traffic and air quality misery in the centre of Westbury, an air quality management area.” 

Westbury Town Council brought in air quality expert Dr Ben Marner who said no proper assessment has been carried out by Northacre to determine how pollution might affect the area.  

Dr Marner was then subject to a rigorous cross examination where his objectivity as an expert was questioned, and details of his analysis were doubted.  

The Northacre representative said no other independent environment agencies, including the government's adviser for the environment Natural England, agreed there would be a significant effect on the surrounding ecology.

Westbury Town Councillor Mark Bailey said the visual impact of the incinerator had been understated and it would be huge at a height of 40m and a length of 130m.  

Other councillors stressed the plans had already been rejected democratically by Wiltshire Council.  

The appeal meetings will continue each day this week until Thursday.

If you wish to attend the inquiry in person, you must tell Wiltshire Council. The number of available places at the venue may be limited so email planningappeals@wiltshire.gov.uk as soon as possible.

To take part virtually, participants will need to be able to access Microsoft Teams.

Anyone who wishes to attend the inquiry virtually must make it known to Wiltshire Council as soon as possible by emailing: planningappeals@wiltshire.gov.uk

There have been many previous protests about the incinerator, but this final meeting drew the biggest crowd.