A CONTROVERSIAL bid for a thermal waste treatment plant in a Severnside village has been given a clean bill of health by a council official.

More than 220 letters and emails objecting to the scheme at the former Tata Steel site in Portskewett’s Severn Bridge Industrial Estate have been received by Monmouthshire planners, including from two MPs.

But Nia Morrison, of the county council’s development management team, has now told the planning department “it is unlikely to result in a significant adverse effect on the environment.”

Since the plans were lodged to build two 15.5 metre high chimneys to handle the waste, the proposal has come under fire from villagers, community councils and politicians, who fear air pollution.

DPS Process Solutions wants to install the flues and to import up to 20,000 tonnes of medical waste, car parts and plastics across the Severn Bridge to be converted into electricity.

It claims no hazardous materials would be accepted at the facility, which it says has been wrongly labelled an “incinerator”.

In her screening report to assess any environmental impact, Ms Morrison says: “Having regard to the scale and nature of the proposed flue stacks, the size of the site, the existing use of the site and possible effects from the proposal, I consider that it is unlikely to result in a significant adverse effect on the environment.

“I can confirm that an environmental statement will not be required to support a planning application submitted for the proposal described.”