THE company behind the controversial scheme to build a £43-million biomass electricity power station on land at Winkleigh this week denied they have withdrawn their application for planning permission. Peninsula Power aims to build the station on part of the old Winkleigh Airfield. It says the station would use biomass fuels including miscanthus grass, forestry products and clean waste wood, providing power for up to 23,000 homes. A spokesman for Peninsula said rumours of any withdrawal of the scheme were ?a figment of somebody?s imagination?. The spokesman said: ?I could not imagine that after spending all this money, Peninsula Power would withdraw the scheme ? they certainly are not.? The spokesman said the company was looking forward to the application being considered by Torridge District Council?s planning committee in the very near future. He said if consent was approved for the power station, work would start immediately. Andy Seaman, head of planning services at Torridge District Council, said: ?We have heard the rumours but can categorically state that we have received no communication from Peninsula Power saying that it has withdrawn its application.? A spokesman for the council said the report which the planning services commissioned into the application had been finished and would now go to an external legal review, which hopefully would be received back by the council some time after Easter. He said the application could either be considered by a special meeting of the council?s planning committee, or at the May meeting of the committee. Rumours about the withdrawal of the planning application have this week swept through the Winkleigh area, delighting campaigners opposed to the scheme. David Lausen, co-ordinator of the Devon Under Serious Threat (DUST) group, claimed the biomass project used research which was ?totally out of scale? and technology which had ?failed around the world?. ?Trying to use experimental fuels which have never been successful is compounding the risk, in a crazy area, right next door to 86 retired residents. You could not get a more ill-conceived plan,? said Mr Lausen. He said he was very disappointed that reports about the withdrawal of the planning application had proved false. Former chairman of the DUST group Steve Leahey said he was ?not surprised? the rumours had been discounted, but said opposition to the scheme remained strong in the Winkleigh area ? a fact borne out by the the attendance of around 70 people at a meeting in the village recently concerning the scheme.