A protest has been held over controversial plans to build a massive waste energy plant.

Lifetime Recycling Village Ltd wants permission to build the facility at Loganswell, south of Newton Mearns.

Protestors in East Renfrewshire are unimpressed by claims that the £640m plant could incinerate enough commercial waste to power 100,000 homes and that biomass could help Scotland reach its 2020 targets.

Lifetime Recycling Village said recently that biomass could play a key role in helping Scotland reach its ambitious 100% renewable energy by 2020 target, according to project developer Lifetime Recycling Village.

They said that, through supporting more renewable projects which involve biomass, Scotland will place itself in a strong position to meet the ambitious 2020 target adding that, while the Scottish government has high hopes for its country becoming a leader in wind and marine power and has facilitated this through ongoing investment, biomass has until recently been largely sidelined.


They said that a recent report produced for the Department of Energy and Climate Change by consultancy firm Arup indicated that waste biomass sector is likely to double by 2020.

However, at the weekend, local people, politicians and community and environmental groups opposed to the scheme were holding a march and rally in Newton Mearns.

Those attending included East Renfrewshire Labour MP Jim Murphy and his Holyrood counterpart, Ken Macintosh MSP.

Speaking ahead of the march, Mr Macintosh told the BBC: "Many of us here in East Renfrewshire have been alarmed to hear of the Loganswell development, a proposal which would put a huge waste disposal plant right on our doorsteps.

"East Renfrewshire is a great place for families to live and we do not want to be burning 1.5m tonnes of waste every year."

However, Neil Gallacher from Lifetime Recycling Village said: "Scotland faces a huge challenge ahead if it is to meet its renewable energy targets and tackle the problem of landfill. We need to take action now."

(BMcC/GK)