Chicken power awaiting go-ahead

The £10m plant at Banham Poultry in Attleborough, Norfolk, is expected to provide enough power for the town.

A Banham Poultry spokesman said £1m was lost while the finished plant awaited final planning consent and an operating license from Norfolk County Council.

"It will be brought to committee in due course," a council spokesman said.

"Permission on the detail of the application hasn't yet been given."

'Delayed decision'

Norfolk County Council approved Banham Poultry's application in 2005 after a study found the power station would not create the unpleasant odours residents had feared.

Gas and electricity would be produced by burning heat-dried chicken by-products in the new plant which is at Bunns Bank industrial estate on the edge of Attleborough.

The plant has been backed by the University of East Anglia's CRed carbon reduction campaign and the Environment Agency.

Michael Foulger, chairman of Banham Poultry, said: "The decision keeps being delayed, because the county council says it hasn't got time to consider it.

"We've had it postponed at least six times now, and we've been told it may not make the agenda for February.

"I can't say why it's being delayed but there are a lot of people in the town who are against it."

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