SIZE does matter, according to more than 100 concerned Redland residents who attended a meeting to ask questions about a proposed power plant to be fuelled by chicken manure at Mount Cotton on Sunday.
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Residents said they were concerned there were no definitive dimensions for Cleveland Power's energy-producing incinerator on land owned by chicken giant Golden Cockerel in Hillview Crescent.
Questions were fielded by a panel of four, comprising former Redland councillor Toni Bowler, Mount Cotton resident Geoff Hillier, environmental activist Simon Baltais and environmental scientist Ian Bridge.
Cleveland Power's David Bray and local councillor Julie Talty, along with Redland City Council's CEO Bill Lyon were not at the meeting.
Mr Bridge, the primary appellant in a 2007 appeal against the project, said the community had been left in the dark about the size of the plant and said questions remained about the quantity and type of emissions.
He said other issues of concern for residents would be waste disposal, traffic and odours.
Residents listened as former officer for the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection Earl Knudson said the state did not have the manpower to adequately patrol and monitor the incinerator and suggested residents start a class action.
Former Redland councillor Toni Bowler urged residents to lobby state MPs, the council and launch court protests in an effort to get the matter returned to the public participation stage, forcing Cleveland Power to advertise and re-lodge a new town planning application.
Mount Cotton resident Amanda Wrigley called the meeting last week, after the power plant's developer, Cleveland Power, entered negotiations with Redland City Council.
The two parties are in court after council's December refusal to extend the plant's town planning application.
The case was adjourned for the negotiations on November 1, which are believed to be a precursor to Cleveland Power applying to the court for a "permissible change" to its original approved application.
On Friday, Cleveland Power issued a statement saying "alarmist claims" that Mount Cotton was to become the home of a huge chicken-manure "incinerator" were wrong.
"There are no toxic by-products from our processes," the statement said.
"The only visible emission is faint heat haze.
"Traffic won't be worse because litter that is currently trucked to destinations as far away as Gympie and Warwick will now be processed on-site.
The matter returns to the Planning and Environment Court on Friday.
ONLY COMMENTS WITH FULL NAMES WILL BE PUBLISHED. THEY MUST STAY ON TOPIC AND WILL BE EDITED WHERE NECESSARY.
ONLY COMMENTS WITH FULL NAMES WILL BE PUBLISHED. THEY MUST STAY ON TOPIC AND WILL BE EDITED WHERE NECESSARY.
