CAMPAIGNERS are set to take to the streets in their fight against controversial plans for a new biofuel plant on Portland.

Applicant W4B Renewable energy wants to build the multi-million-pound palm oil power plant at Portland Port on the edge of Balaclava Bay.

Protesters say the plant could lead to major health problems for local residents and the destruction of Indonesian rainforests.

Now members of new community group No Oil Palm Energy (Nope) are to parade through Portland in a protest against the bid.

Nope member and island resident Catherine Bennett said: “We will not stand quietly by and watch as this unwanted and unsustainable power plant is built.”

W4B submitted a second plan for the £35million complex after its initial application was turned down in 2009.

The revised scheme was given the green light by Weymouth and Portland Borough Council planners last month.

Campaigners fear the plant could leave nearby homes engulfed by toxic smoke and ruin Portland’s natural beauty.

And they say palm oil growing in Indonesia is causing deforestation, displacement of local villagers and pushing orangutans towards extinction. Nope members will march from The Heights Hotel to Portland Port – led by a samba band – at 11.30am on Saturday.

They say their parade is ‘just the beginning’ in a campaign to ensure local residents’ concerns over the ‘dirty scheme’ are heard.

Nope member Sophie Lee said: “I strongly oppose a plant that pollutes locally and globally and benefits nobody except a handful of self-interested investors.”

South Dorset Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Ros Kayes and fellow organiser Trefor Morgan said they expect ‘at least 200’ demonstrators to turn out.

Mrs Kayes and fellow candidate Paul Harrod will also try and force the issue onto the national agenda at their forthcoming party conference.

Mrs Kayes said: “We’re going to go national on this. Palm oil was billed as an environmentally-friendly solution to peak oil.

“But more and more people are realising that the impact it makes where it is grown is devastating to the landscape and the people.”

Nope members say there is ‘much evidence’ to suggest palm oil is not actually a renewable energy source.

David Smith, from Transition Town Weymouth, said: “A biofuel plant is subsidised by Renewable Obligation Certificates.

“It gets twice as much money as a wind farm. We don’t think that is right, because biofuels are fundamentally unsustainable.”

W4B managing director Richard Gudgeon has played down fears over health risks and deforestation.

He has pointed to a Health and Safety Executive report that found the plant would not create an ‘unacceptable’ level of risk.

* For more information on Nope and the march, visit www.nope. org.uk or contact the Demonstration Information Line on 07826 645530.