THE many residents and supporters of Cricklade and beyond who followed their intuition to fight and win the 2000/2001 Battle of the Biomass power station will doubtless be interested by the following update on the current status of the Eggborough Biomass plant.

This is an installation which, being the first full-scale Biomass power station in the world, was held up in Cricklade as a fine example of state of the art renewable energy technology and one which we should be proud and confident to follow, courtesy of Ambient Energy's similar, though slightly smaller, scheme.

According to a recent edition of the Professional Engineering Journal, it appears that the Eggborough operation currently faces a most uncertain future, having been put into liquidation some two weeks ago.

The 40 staff have been made redundant and growers of SRC crops have had their contracts cancelled.

Construction of the plant was completed around two years ago, but commissioning it has so far been prevented by engineering problems, this causing its backers to pull out.

In these circumstances one must inevitably ponder on what might have been the fate of a massive and unsightly industrial building had Ambient Energy's scheme actually gone ahead and also met with difficulties and ultimate closure a possibility which we had always been well aware of.

One way or another it seems that our picturesque little town was probably saved by a very narrow margin indeed from a long future of potential blight and decline.

This hopefully will serve as a permanent reminder to us all, of the importance of keeping alert to any intrusive and self serving development schemes which may land on our doorsteps.

GERDIE SCHAFFER

Co-chairman BLOT (Biomass Lumbered on our Town)

High Street, Cricklade