PLANS for a renewable energy plant on the edge of Thetford could come one step closer to fruition by the end of the year if an application for planning permission is submitted.

PLANS for a renewable energy plant on the edge of Thetford could come one step closer to fruition by the end of the year if an application for planning permission is submitted.

Energy Power Recourses (EPR) unveiled proposals earlier this year for a second biomass power plant off the A134 and received a “positive” response during a public consultation exercise.

The company, which has been running a poultry litter- powered plant at Two Mile Bottom, near Thetford, since 1999, has now revealed that it aims to submit a planning application for a waste rood station by the New Year.

The news comes after EPR and representatives from RPS Planning and Development Limited (RPS) gave a presentation to the Moving Thetford Forward board.

The presentation outlined the planning policy of the proposals, site location design and feedback from the public exhibition.

The next stage will now be the submission of the planning application to Norfolk County Council.

If approved there would be a two-year consultation process with the hope the plant would be operational by 2013.

Representatives said the project would create 36 permanent jobs, with a further 120 over two years.

The Thetford Renewable Energy Plant, which is proposed 1km away from the company's existing station, would generate 40 megawatts of electricity a year, enough to power almost 70,000 homes.

EPR said that the proposed plant would cut CO2 greenhouse gas emissions by more than 120,000 tonnes a year. The station is planned for farmland off the A134 between the A11 roundabout and Thetford Rugby Club.