Leader: 'This needs done properly, not quickly'

A PLAN to produce power by burning wood chip in the middle of a heavily-populated area was never likely to sail through without opposition.

True to form, Forth Energy's proposal for a massive biomass plant in Leith has attracted huge opposition, including 1000 formal objections lodged with the Scottish Government and 1400 people signing an online petition.

As well as local people and politicians, objectors include Scottish National Heritage. Similar concerns have been expressed about other biomass plants in Scotland.

The News has urged caution about the plans too. More than a year ago we acknowledged the appeal of the creation of hundreds of jobs, but we queried the green credentials of shipping fuel from America to burn it here in Scotland.

We then focused on concerns that the plant itself would be too big - and indeed, to many, too ugly. Fundamentally, we highlighted claims about the possible impact on the health of local people.

Today we reveal that Forth Energy appears to be bending to the pressure of protests by looking again at its scheme. The result is expected to be a revised plan for a smaller plant.

There is still some way to go before this issue is resolved, but the company's move does suggest that the system is doing what it is designed to - flush out problems with plans on the way to having them either approved or thrown out.

Overall, the length of time it takes to do that job remains an issue, especially as there is no shortage of other cities willing to take investors' cash.

But in the case of something as controversial as the biomass plant, it is more important that the planning process is done properly than that it is done quickly.

Good luck, Lucy

Lucy Bird took up her new job as chief executive of Marketing Edinburgh with a reputation for bringing energy and ideas to everything she does.

Cynics, of course, might suggest the task of selling a city as vibrant as Edinburgh to the world shouldn't exactly be hard. And when her job was advertised, many queried the need for yet another six-figure public salary in that sort of role.

But those who have worked with her over the last two months have been impressed and speak of her determination to repeat her success in Gateshead here in the Capital.

We wish her well in that ambition as it can only benefit the entire city . . . although we wonder if a few more months here might make her as cynical as the rest of us when it comes to the trams.