Westbury Town Council says plans for a £200 million energy-from-waste incinerator are the most important single issue the town now faces and are "everybody's problem".

The council has urged the town's 18,000 residents to write to Robert Jenrick, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, by next Friday July 23 asking him to call in plans for the £200 million incinerator.

It says: "Remember, this isn’t just Westbury’s problem, it’s everyone’s problem."

The council was "very disappointed" by Wiltshire Council's strategic planning committee's 7-4 vote to approve a change of technology for the proposed facility from advanced thermal treatment to moving grate combustion.

The council said: "This is the single most important issue Westbury has faced in recent years. If built, the impact of this incinerator will be felt for the next 25 years and that impact won’t only be felt in Westbury.

"The decision of a Secretary of State to call in a planning application is relatively rare in the planning process, but he is more likely to do so if a community can demonstrate they are collectively opposed to the planning approval and giving material planning considerations why they are against the planning application.

"In the view of Westbury Town Council, this is the final opportunity to stop the incinerator proposal going ahead and everyone is urged to write to demonstrate public opposition to this incinerator."

Westbury’s local MP Dr Andrew Murrison, has also written to Mr Jenrick asking him to ‘call in’ Wiltshire Council's planning decision for review and overturn it.

The applicants, Northacre Renewable Energy Ltd, a joint venture company owned by Swindon-based Hills Group and Bioenergy Infrastructure Group of Theale near Reading, are waiting for the Environment Agency to grant an operating permit for the proposed new facility, which could create up 40 new jobs plus a further 450 during the construction period.

Westbury Town Council says UK dairy producer Arla Foods, which produces Anchor butter and other products in Westbury, has identified a risk of contamination to food products from fine airborne particulates released from the proposed waste facility.

It said: "This poses a threat to the business and they may be forced to close their site. This dairy producer employs 250 local staff directly and purchases its produce from farmers across the South West.

"The council estimates another 1,500 jobs could be risk from those employed in milk production, logistical and transport suppliers. This cannot be offset by the small increase in jobs at the proposed waste facility."

The council says the Government has committed to reducing carbon emissions and Wiltshire Council and Westbury Town Council have declared a climate emergency and pledged to be carbon neutral by 2030. "The levels of CO2 that will be emitted from the waste facility and its associated increase in traffic is not acceptable to us or our community and can only be seen as a failure by the Government at COP26."

The council says the increase in traffic to the NREL facility will add to the already serious congestion along the A350 route through the town and nearby villages.

It says the incinerator will worsen air quality in Westbury which is already an Air Quality Action Zone, having one of the worst air pollution readings in Wiltshire.

In addition, the council says noise and odours from the waste incinerator will cause a nuisance to nearby homes, and the scale, massing and obtrusiveness of the incinerator will blight the landscape.