TENSIONS are rising over plans to bring a gasification plant north of Carlisle as the public consultation draws to a close. 

If given the green light by planning, the 'embedded waste fuel gasification and combined heat and power (CHP) generation facility' proposed by North West Regeneration Ltd will make use of solid recovered fuels (SRF), produced on-site by North West Recycling Ltd at units on Kingmoor Park Rockcliffe Estate.

The public consultation closed on January 19.

The tension comes after North West Recycling decided to skip the Rockcliffe Parish Council (PC) meeting on January 15, citing concerns over 'potential aggression and disrespectful behaviour from the public' due to previous meetings.

Ahead of the meeting, a spokesperson from North West Recycling said: "NWR engaged with the chairman and secretary of Rockcliffe Parish Council and was willing to participate in the Parish Council meeting on January 15.

"However, the Parish Council decided to open up the meeting to a larger public attendance in the large room of the village hall.

"NWR had already experienced negative handmade signs placed around the village and Facebook comments regarding the planning application and basic disrespectful behaviour from some of the public.

"NWR arranged a similar public consultation in the same village hall in 2022, which ended with NWR and the technology provider discontinuing the presentation.

"This was due to members of the public being abusive and disruptive during the presentation.

"Due to this previous experience, NWR decided not to attend the PC public meeting, which has the possibility of becoming toxic once more.  

"Instead NWR invited a number of the Rockcliffe Parish Council Members to attend the site to discuss any concerns that may be raised during the PC meeting on the 15th.

"Kingmoor PC members are attending the site on Thursday 18 but Rockcliffe PC are not joining the same meeting.

"CRAIN, who are an action group that represent some of the Rockcliffe parishioners, have submitted a paper of questions through the planning portal which have been addressed by NWR, Enertec Green (the technology provider) and Sol Environmental (consultant). 

"Any further questions that may be raised before the planning consultee deadline on Friday 19 will all be addressed by the NWR team," they said. 

In response to NWR's decision not to attend the PC meeting, the Rockcliffe Parish Council read a letter to members of the public in attendance. 

The parish council expressed disappointment at NWR's 'reluctance to engage' with the community, especially given the company's assertion that the issues raised were 'very important' to them.

A spokesperson from Rockcliffe’s Parish Council, said: "NWR didn’t attend as they were concerned there’d be awkward questions they couldn’t answer, regardless of the excuses they’re making.

"At a previous meeting organised and chaired by them in July 2022 (nothing to do with the PC),  they permitted the decorum of their meeting to fall lower than they were happy with.

"They banded words like 'slanderous' and 'aggressive'.  I reiterate – it was their meeting and they were responsible for allowing their meeting to fall below their expectations," they said.