COUNCILLORS have rejected plans for a £35million green energy plant on Portland.

They ignored pleas from operators that the scheme would bring jobs and a massive economic boost to the area.

W4B Renewable Energy Ltd was unsuccessful in its application to build a power plant fuelled by vegetable and waste oils on brownfield land at Balaclava Bay, Portland Port, and also their listed building application to build the plant near to a listed breakwater wall.

The proposed plant would have been generating electricity, from a ‘power’ oil production of processed and cleaned jatropha, palm oil and waste cooking oils, by 2011.

Some speakers at the borough’s planning and traffic committee said they were concerned about the wider global impact – that oils used in the plant could be unsustainably sourced and transported from thousands of miles away in south east Asia.

Committee members heard that schoolgirl Kathryn Flint had collected a 200-strong petition against the proposal.

Portland Port development manager Peter Arey spoke in favour of the scheme, which would bring 22 jobs to the area.

He said: “We’ve worked closely with the applicant and their environmental consultants and have a good understanding of the level of effort that has gone into this.”

In a seven-to-four-vote, committee members went against council officers’ recommendations and opposed the scheme Their reasons included the impact on air quality, emissions and noise, the impact on Portland’s coastline and the distance that the fuel source would be transported by sea.