The carbon impact that the Westbury Incinerator will produce has been revealed at the inquiry deciding whether it should be built.

Technical Director of the engineering consultants for the incinerator, Stephen Othen said it will produce 106,000 tonnes of C02 annually if the government inspector allows it to be built.

According to calculations by oil supplier Crown Oil the C02 produced would be equivalent to  100,000 flights from Paris to New York or driving a car 600,000,000 miles.

Other equivalents given include the same C02 produced by charging 12,894,158,000 mobile phones.

The first half of the two-week inquiry to decide if the waste-to-energy plant will be given the go-ahead finished on Thursday November 24 at the Laverton on Bratton Road in Westbury.  

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

Adding a carbon capture facility to the site has been suggested by Northacre to reduce emissions.

On Thursday, there was a thorough examination and cross-examination of Mr Othen’s work on predicting details about carbon pollution.

Westbury residents were given the opportunity to question Mr Othen.  

Resident David Davis argued dangerous emissions may blow into homes sitting on a nearby escarpment meaning many people wouldn’t even be able to sit in their gardens or open their windows.

He asked why receptors to detect emissions and protect the health of residents had not been installed in this area.

However, Mr Othen said the dispersion of the pollution due to the wind had been mathematically modelled using weather data and claimed emissions would be blown up and over the escarpment.

Mr Othen added that although a receptor had not been placed amongst the houses on the escarpment there was one not too far off.

Mr Davis replied that he was very upset with the plans and not satisfied with the answer. 

Residents also complained burning waste may produce smells near their homes.

The inquiry will resume on December 6 and will finally finish on December 8.

The first day of the inquiry saw over one hundred protestors against the waste incinerator including town councillors and resident standing together outside the Laverton.

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