DETAILED plans for a gas-fired power plant near Severn Beach are on display.

Displays filled Easter Compton Methodist Church Hall on Tuesday for the first in a series of events explaining updated proposals for a station on the 50-acre Crooks Marsh by the Seabank Power Station.

Seabank 3 would be fuelled by natural gas from the main gas network.

Some design decisions have been made since the drop-in sessions held last summer by SSE, the firm which owns 50 per cent of the current Seabank station.

The power plant will use water from the neighbouring treatment works for cooling, rather than from the Estuary itself, which would have had a major environmental impact.

Seabank 3’s peaking plant stacks are now to be located further from the main stacks to reduce impact on air quality – a key concern for locals.

SSE said the main considerations were oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter, tiny pieces of solid or liquid suspended in the atmosphere, but these levels would be very low and remain below national air quality standards.

The impact of the proposed station is being assessed on a wide range of environmental factors from noise and vibration to geology, traffic and visual impact.

Compton Greenfield resident Kirsty Wallace, who can see the existing station from her garden, questioned whether the proposals were in keeping with the landscape.

“Yes, it is an industrial area but that doesn’t mean you can just keep on industrialising it,” she said. “The building work is temporary – it’s more the long term impact on the view from our house and the air pollution which is a concern.”

Richard Jones, of Easter Compton, said he was approaching the consultation with an open mind.

“We need additional generating capacity, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “At the moment I’m just information gathering.”

The current timeline predicts four and half years of construction work, with the plant operational by 2021.

Some 800 workers would be needed on site each day during the peak construction period, with up to 130 heavy goods vehicles travelling to and from Hallen Marsh daily in the six months prior to the build.

Public information events continue this week in Severn Beach Village Hall on Friday, May 30 (2-7pm) and in Avonmouth Community Centre on Saturday, May 31 (9am-1pm).

For more information or to submit comments on the proposals ahead of Monday, June 23, visit sse.com/seabank3 or phone 0800 5875552.