OPPONENTS of a controversial scheme to site a huge biomass energy plant at Winkleigh say they are delighted that ?sanity and common sense prevailed? last week as Devon County councillors decided not to back the scheme. The county council?s development control committee meeting last Wednesday unanimously recommended the scheme be rejected when it is considered by Torridge District Council. In January this year, councillors decided that although the site in Winkleigh was suitable for the plant, the scale of the development would make it likely that miscanthus grass to fuel the generator would need to be transported to the site from a wide area, resulting in excessive transport demands. But after additional information was provided by developers Peninsula Power Ltd, council officers recommended dropping the objection as they judged the authority?s earlier concerns had been met. A band of protesters from Winkleigh attended the meeting at County Hall and were delighted with the councillors? decision. David Lausen, of the Winkleigh Society, said concerned residents were particularly pleased that the committee had recognised that the WINBEG scheme was ?out of scale with its rural surroundings, wrongly located in an area with a very limited infrastructure and ill-conceived and unsustainable in the long-term?. ?We hope that local democracy will now triumph. This scheme has caused enormous concern in Winkleigh with the possibility of environmental damage blighting people?s lives and well-being,? he said. Peninsula Power says the £43-million plant would produce energy by burning miscanthus and other energy crops. The firm says the proposed plant on the former RAF airfield at Winkleigh would produce up to 23 megawatts of electricity and would save 140,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere compared with other conventional fossil fuel plants. A spokesperson for the company said they were naturally ?disappointed and saddened? by the decision. The final decision on the planning application will be made by Torridge District Council.