Campaigners against waste incinerator on Portland close to raising funds for latest challenge

Watch: ITV News Meridian's Richard Slee speaks to campaigners working to stop an incinerator being built on Portland

Campaigners fighting plans to build a waste incinerator on Portland are close to raising the £30,000 they need to continue to challenge the project.

The Stop Portland Waste Incinerator Group has already spent £150,000 fighting the proposal and this is now their last chance to do so in the courts.

It follows the decision by the government to overturn Dorset Council's refusal to grant planning permission for the site. If the campaigners win, it means the government will have to reconsider its decision.

Leading the campaign is Debbie Tulett: "This just shows the strength of how people feel to raise that amount of money. And it's been in five pounds, ten pounds because people feel so strong about this."

Some recent research shows that burning household rubbish in giant incinerators to produce electricity is the dirtiest way the UK generates power. But when these plans were approved by the government, it said this incinerator would have no harmful impact on the landscape of local scenic beauty.

However campaigners like Laura Baldwin say they are more concerned about their health.

She said: "Any easterly wind is going to blow the emissions straight down our street. We get sea fogs and cap clouds that will just hug any pollution close to the land. My house is 800 meters away and ten meters above the proposed chimney."

There is also concern that a waste incinerator will cause problems for sailors at the nearby National Sailing Academy.

Olympic sailor Fynn Sterritt said it could mean fewer sailors using the facility.

He said: "I think it will put a lot of sailors off coming here and it will certainly make those of us in the olympic team question whether we want to be based in weymouth and Portland."

Dorset council had refused panning permission for the waste incinerator but that decision was overturned by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

The leader of Dorset Council, Nick Ireland has now written to the Secretary of State, Angela Rayner, asking her to reconsider that decision. He says he is also concerned that unlike other similar waste incinerators, these plans have 'no element of carbon capture' to reduce toxic emissions.

This latest legal challenge is not contesting the impact of the project - rather that the government did not act legally in making the decision to allow it.

Powerfuel Portland, the company which wants to build the £150m waste incinerator, says it will generate enough energy to power 30,000 homes.

The company's website claims that benefits from the project will include providing renewable shore power for visiting cruise ships and that Dorset will be able to take responsibility for its own waste.

In a statement the company said: "The planning decision itself, including the identified benefits and limited localised impact of the project, is not being contested in the legal challenge. What is claimed is that the Secretary of State did not act legally in making the decision.

"Dorset Council has stated that it consulted expert legal advice and concluded any challenge on this basis would likely fail in court.

"Despite this, Stop Portland Waste Incinerator group has decided to launch a legal challenge against the Secretary of State's decision, which will be robustly defended."

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