By Jonathan Morris BBC News South West

Shirley and Steve Leahy: "Quality of life is worth more than greed"

The old airfield at Winkleigh in Devon was a former World War II base for Spitfires and Lancaster bombers.

But for the past three years it has been the scene of a new battleground, over plans for a "green" energy plant.

Peninsula Power wants to build a �43m biomass power station fuelled by crops, but opponents say it will ruin this rural area of the county.

Torridge planners have been recommended to reject the plant proposal at a meeting on Tuesday.

The site would benefit from the power station says Peninsula Power

For the past 19 years Steve and Shirley Leahy have run a cafe and hardware shop next to the former RAF Winkleigh.

The bombers and fighter aircraft disappeared from the site years ago and in their place is a collection of small businesses and sheep grazing on the overgrown runway.

Three years ago government quango the South West Regional Development Agency (RDA) bought the 36 acre (15.6 hectare) site, with a view to putting a biomass energy plant on it.

Biomass is plant material that is burned, creating renewable energy.

How biomass works Electricity calculator

But for the Leahys and other members of campaigners Devon Under Serious Threat (DUST), the plant is too big.

Peninsula Power, a consortium of local businessmen, wants to build the plant on nine acres (3.6 hectares) of the site.

It would be fuelled by a mixture of fast-growing crops such as willow and miscanthus grass as well as cellulosic fibre, created from household waste.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said Winkleigh would be the most technically sophisticated biomass plant in the UK because of its multiple fuel sources.

The RDA believes the 23MW plant would supply enough electricity for 23,000 homes and is key to achieving the RDA's county target of 151MW of renewable electricity production by 2010.

The 151MW target is about 15% of the county's total energy demand.

A montage of the finished plant

Mr Leahy said: "We are standing up for commonsense. There are only 1,200 people in Winkleigh. Why do we need to have something so big here?"

He admits the derelict and windswept airfield, now fringed by small businesses, appears in need of regeneration, if not generation.

He said: "We would welcome it on a sensible scale, then it would be really green, promoting renewables and jobs."

Objectors are also concerned about the number of lorries bringing fuel into the site through the area's villages.

They say fuel would have to be brought in over large distances. They doubt Peninsula Power's financial backing, and say the technology is untested on such a large scale.

'Urgent need'

But the RDA, which spent �412,000 on buying the site, says that it needs to invest in one-off renewable energy projects to demonstrate the technology at work.

Matthew Spencer, chief executive of Regen South West, the SWRDA-funded renewable energy body, said: "Some councils are in danger of being complacent about renewable energy generation in the face of rising gas and oil prices and the increasing threat of climate change.

"The choices councillors face at planning committee are not easy but they have a duty to reflect the urgent need to generate more green energy in their decisions."

Peninsula Power statement in full (307K) Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Download the reader here

Peninsula Power says it has �8.5m in equity and �23m of bank finance for the project. The remaining �11.5m will come from the Department of Trade and Industry's Bioenergy Capital Grants Scheme, if the plant is built.

It has also agreed to buy the site for the plant from the RDA if it gets planning permission.

Although Peninsula Power declined to be interviewed, it said in a statement that the plant would economically unviable if it were smaller, because of the types of fuel being used.

'Massive opportunity'

It also says on its website that "much" of its fuel would be sourced from within a 25-mile (40 km) radius of the plant, and there would be no more than 30 truckloads a week.

It estimates that it would create up to 100 jobs during construction and between 40 and 44 full-time jobs at the power station.

But Mrs Leahy said: "Our business stands to make a lot of money, but we think quality of life is worth more than greed.

"It will ruin this corner of Devon and that comes before our profits."

She added: "It would be better if the RDA stopped wasting public money on this and started considering the needs of the local community."

Archie Montgomery, the National Farmers' Union regional spokesman on non-food crops, said that demands for biomass fuels could only grow in the future as oil and gas supplies ran out.

"It is a massive opportunity for farmers," he said.

He said returns would depend on contract prices and yield, but the South West was an "ideal place" for growing biomass plants.

"It's mild, there's a long growing season, with plenty of moisture which is what they like," Mr Montgomery said.

The Torridge District Council planning committee is meeting at Winkleigh Sports Centre at 1400 BST on Tuesday, to decide whether or not the plant will go ahead.