I FEEL we have to respond to a number of points raised in your article of October 20 about our recent exhibition at Lostock in relation to the proposed sustainable energy plant.

The gentleman from Comberbach is quoted as saying there would be ‘one heavy goods vehicle every two and a half minutes’.

This figure does not reflect our plans for the operation of the energy plant and takes the worst case scenario of delivering 100 per cent of our fuel requirement by road. This is required as part of the submission of our application to the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

We have always said that it is our intention to deliver the majority (two-thirds) of the fuel by rail with the remaining fuel (one-third) delivered by road. This will involve a maximum of 122 two-way vehicle movements a day, which would be evenly distributed across each hour of a 12-hour day from 7am until 7pm. This equates to a maximum of 10 vehicle movements an hour.

He also raised the question of the steam pipeline linking the Winnington and Lostock sites. This pipeline has been in place for more than 10 years and when it was installed an investment was made in landscaping to minimise its visual impact.

I was also disappointed to read Mr Cartwright’s comments about attending the exhibition. We did invite him to attend the exhibition and meet with us to discuss his concerns about our proposals.

However, he did not take up this invitation but instead attended the small demonstration outside on the Tuesday evening.

FRASER RAMSAY SEP business development executive Brunner Mond