Concern is being expressed in the Wey Valley area and nearby Alton in Hampshire over a proposed multi-million-pound incinerator near the Pilgrims’ Way.

The possible impact on visitors including walkers along the Pilgrims’ Way was highlighted during Thursday’s BBC South Today programme.

No Wey campaigners are calling for the plan to be decided by the Secretary of State ‘because of the serious long-term impact its potential approval would have on nationally important issues such as climate change’.

The planning application by Veolia is due to be considered by Hampshire County Council this autumn.

The incinerator, being called a waste-to-energy plant, with 260 foot chimneys would be visible to the south as you walk between Holybourne and Upper Froyle.

The site is less than half a mile away between the A31 and the railway.

The Final Review of Environmental Statement takes issue with the applicant by highlighting the potential impact on the Pilgrims’ Way, known locally as St Swithuns’ Way.

‘The proposal will significantly affect visual tranquillity from St Swithun’s Way,’ writes Fiona Sharman of Indigo Landscape Architects in a report for Hampshire County Council.

‘I would also consider that the scale of the proposal would evidently detract from one’s appreciation of key characteristics such as the ‘distinct flat valley’ landform as the proposal would be out of scale with the small scale valley characteristics in which it sits.’