Sutton Bridge gasifier giant killer resigns

The great-grandmother who won a High Court battle to overturn planning consent for a gasifier in Sutton Bridge has resigned from her parish council.

Shirley Giles, 75, resigned at a meeting – but insisted she will be ready to re-launch another legal fight if the plan for a gasifier power station ever resurfaces.

She said: “I don’t think the gasifier will come back but, if it does, I am still here. I didn’t have to be a parish councillor last time to do it.”

Shirley used her own money for the court case, but won back those costs in a victory that saw South Holland District Council rack up a legal bill for nearly £10,500.

Earlier this year, the authority’s planning committee refused an amended application from EnergyPark Sutton Bridge because the company failed to answer a series of key questions – including the fuel to be burned and its source.

Shirley cited a number of reasons for her departure in a resignation letter read to the parish council’s latest meeting – and levelled criticisms at some fellow parish councillors. She says she enjoyed her three years on the council and has nothing but praise for clerk Suzanne England, assistant clerk Karen Croxford, and chairman John Grimwood.

She has put her home on the market and hopes to move to Hampshire to be closer to her family.