Campaigners have started a fundraiser to help them fight plans to build a pair of carbon capture plants on Crossness Nature Reserve in Belvedere.
Cory Group wants to build the plants to capture carbon dioxide from the company’s two incinerators, which generate electricity by burning non-recyclable waste.
The plans are deemed “nationally significant” and will be decided at Westminster after a series of planning hearings, rather than by Bexley Council.
The Save Crossness Nature Reserve campaign group said the appeal would raise funds for legal aid from Southwark Law Centre and pay for expert witnesses. The group is hoping to raise £8,000 by June 28.
One of the campaigners, Laurence Pinturault, said the site on Erith Marshes was known for wildlife including the rare shrill carder bee and water voles, as well as breeding skylarks and barn owls.
She said: “This is one of the last remnants of grazing marsh southeast London. The grazing paddocks, which Cory is proposing to make a compulsory purchase order on, is a piece of land that has never been built on.
“We are very angry because there are alternative sites. We are talking about a massive, industrial development on a nature reserve, and Cory could develop on the Belvedere Industrial Estate, which is just next door.”
Pinturault said businesses on the industrial estate could be moved to Crayford, so Cory could take over the land and leave the nature reserve alone.
She added that people were worried about the local Traveller community, which uses the site to graze horses, being pushed out by the new development. A petition against the scheme has attracted 2,790 signatures.
Jed Holloway, a planning solicitor from the Southwark Law Centre, said the site was Metropolitan Open Land – which has the same level of protection as the Green Belt – and a site of importance for nature conservation.
He added: “So in planning terms, it has some of the highest protections possible to recognise its biodiversity value and importance as open green space. We’re concerned that Cory is trying to overlook this context and get around the duty to avoid harm to this land as far as possible.”
Cory has claimed in planning documents that the nature reserve would increase in size as a result of the development. A spokesperson said the issues raised by campaigners would be responded to in full when planning inspectors examine the scheme.
The company added: “Carbon capture and storage is recognised as the best option for decarbonising the energy-from-waste process, and Cory is proposing to install carbon capture technology at our current and in-construction energy-from waste facilities in Belvedere as part of our commitment to reducing our impact on the environment around us.
“This project has the potential to capture around 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, which will not only decarbonise the waste produced by the communities we serve but will also contribute to the UK’s net zero emissions target by delivering negative carbon emissions.”
“We look forward to continuing our engagement with all local groups during the examination period and beyond.”
Comments on the scheme are being accepted on the Planning Inspectorate website until June 16. The fundraiser is on the Crowdjustice website.
Joe Coughlan is the local democracy reporter for Bexley. Additional reporting and editing by Darryl Chamberlain.
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