CONTROVERSIAL plans to build a controversial waste incinerator on Portland are currently on hold after a request for further information was submitted.

Dorset Council submitted a Regulation 25 request for further information to Powerfuel on April 30, and is still yet to receive a response from company bosses who plan to build a £100 million waste energy plant at Portland Port.

The plant would use waste as a fuel to produce 15MW of low carbon energy, enough to power around 30,000 homes.

However, until Dorset Council receive a response to their letter requesting more information on the plans, no further progress will be made on the application process.

It is expected that a decision on the incinerator will not be made until at least autumn.

A spokesman for Dorset Council said: "To date we have not had a formal response to this letter. Once we receive the requested information there will be a further consultation - minimum 30 days - on the additional information submitted."

Protest group Stop Portland Waste Incinerator (SPWI) has been campaigning for nearly two years against the proposed plant, citing concerns about the increase in traffic and possible pollution, as well as its location on the Jurassic Coast.

In November last year, the group used money raised through a public campaign to fund a report which claimed that the harm arising from the construction of the proposed incinerator 'would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits' - claims which were dismissed by Powerfuel bosses for 'containing errors and misunderstandings'.

Now, SPWI campaigners are trying to raise a further £45,000 to pay for three more consultant reports - an environmental and planning review, an air quality report and an ecology report - as well as for environmental legal advice, to try to drum up enough support to prevent the plant from being built.

Portland Town Councillor Giovanna Lewis, said: "It’s really important that we raise enough funds quickly enough to get the specialist, environmental, legal and consultancy advice we need to challenge this dreadful proposal.

"This plant is purely a commercial venture which will bring almost nothing to the people of Portland and Weymouth – no cheap heating, nor a solution to a waste problem we never had.

"It will bring more pollution and risk to health as well as despoiling our beautiful island and coastline."

To donate to the SPWI fundraiser, visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/stopportlandwasteincinerator