AMBIENT Energy has not yet appealed against the decision to throw out its plans for a green power plant near Cricklade, a month after the firm insisted the scheme would still go ahead.

Project manager Alison Turnbull originally said the Corsham-based company would lodge an appeal to the independent Planning Inspectorate within two weeks of the fateful planning meeting on September 26, when North Wiltshire District Council rejected the £10 million scheme.

But yesterday, she was less committed to the move, saying the firm was still reviewing its options with its lawyers and was yet to decide whether to press ahead with an appeal.

The news was greeted with delight by action group BLOT, which now believes it is the final nail in the coffin for the biomass plant.

Ambient wanted to build the wood chip fuelled plant in green fields next to the Kingshill Recycling Centre off the A419, about a mile south of Cricklade.

The contract to build the plant on the site was awarded in 1994 and has been pursued by Ambient since 1997.

The firm has already invested hundreds of thousands of pounds into the scheme and has been eager to press ahead with it despite the angered and organised opposition to it.

BLOT formed in the summer and gathered a petition with 861 signatures. More than 420 people wrote to the district council objecting to the plans and a further 325 complained to Cricklade Town Council, which also lodged an official objection against the project.

Ms Turnbull said today: "The people of Cricklade have made it clear they don't want it there and obviously we don't want to unduly upset anybody any further.

"But on the other hand we've invested a lot of time and money into this so we don't want to just abandon it."

Ambient's dilemma is that the restrictions of the Government contract for the plant mean the site cannot be moved, which essentially means it must be built there or not at all.

BLOT vice-chairperson, Gerdie Schaffer, said: "It's been a long hard slog, but I suspect Ambient has come to the conclusion that if it wants to put up a plant, it is not going to be here.

"I would suggest Ambient's money would be better spent searching for another site than on going through the palaver of an appeal."