COUNCILLORS have backed plans for a new tyres power plant on Portland.

Members of Weymouth and Portland Borough Council’s planning committee narrowly backed the application this morning.

They narrowly voted in favour of the scheme by six votes to four.

The plan involved creating energy from waste car tyres at a new power plant.

Permission was granted three years ago for a vegetable oil-fuelled plant, which has yet to be built at Balaclava Bay on Portland.

Due to the high cost of palm oil, the firm behind the scheme has been investigating alternative fuels to use.

It asked Weymouth and Portland Borough Council if it can vary a condition of planning approval so it can use rubber crumb from tyres as well as vegetable oil.

Tyres would be converted to the crumb elsewhere and 220 tonnes will be transported to the site each week to be turned into synthetic diesel and liquid liquid petroleum gas (LPG).

The application from W4B Portland Ltd is backed by an environmental impact assessment which shows the impacts of the development have been assessed and mitigated.

More than 100 people have written to the council objecting to the plan.

More details to come.