BURNING ISSUE

As you may have seen in yesterday's Scunthorpe Telegraph, tonight sees the unveiling of the amended plans for the Brigg Eco2 biomass renewable energy plant, proposed for the former sugar factory site at Scawby Brook.
A representative of the firm will make a presentation to Brigg town councillors tonight when the planning and environment committee meets in the Angel Suite, from 7.45pm.
The meeting is open to the press and public, and we expect a good contingent of protesters, particularly from Scawby Brook. That's based on the fact there was a big turn-out last year when the original plans for the plant were announced and debated. Subsequently they were withdrawn by the company, and have now been revised.
We shall find out tonight what the changes are.
The proposed plant will use straw as its chief raw material, brought in from farms over a wide area. And the number of lorries that will involve is the burning issue, prompting concerns about road safety, traffic congestion and straw blowing about the streets.
We must stress Brigg Town Council planning and environment committee does not have the power to decide applications like this - they go to North Lincolnshire Council, the planning authority.
However, town and parish councils are the first link in the chain for applications, and councillors at the lowest level have the right to comment on any schemes - large or small - proposed for their area, or immediately adjoining their patch (as is the case here).
Again, if you read yesterday's Scunthorpe Telegraph, you will have seen Brigg Town Council discussing, very tentatively, the idea of seeking to expand the town boundary to include Scawby Brook. Should that ever come to pass, it could well mean the Eco2 site being in Brigg, rather than Scawby Brook.
Tonight's meeting will be in the main room at the Angel Suite - the former ballroom - rather than the very small downstairs lounge.
Our picture from last June shows Eco2 representatives at the meeting in the Angel Suite when Brigg councillors considered the original application. It drew a very large attendance. Nearest the camera is North Lincolnshire councillor for the Brigg area, Coun John Berry, with town clerk Jeanette Woollard and the then Deputy Mayor, Coun Mike Campion.