Sir – I do not live in Oxfordshire but I am a frequent visitor. I have been following the debate on the proposed waste incinerator at Sutton Courtenay and read Reg Little’s article on May 7.

However, what immediately struck me about this was the picture chosen to illustrate the plant. Unfortunately it offered no perspective. What is abundantly clear from models and photo-montages of the site, not least those produced by the operator WRG itself, is just what the landscape and visual impact will be. The plant proposed will be as high as Didcot A power station, ironically due for destruction soon, to return the area to agricultural meadowland.

Given the topography of the landscape it will negatively impact the views from major beauty spots for miles around — Christmas Common, White Horse Hill and Wittenham Clumps to name but three. I have even seen Didcot A on the horizon, across farmland, from near RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire.

The proposed incinerator would therefore be visible from this distance too (c.35 miles). Landscaping and tree planting put forward by WRG as screening cannot possibly hide it.

Locally, the size of the plant proposed will dwarf residences in Appleford-on-Thames, Didcot and Sutton Courtenay.

All of this impact conflicts with local and structure plan policies, so it is difficult to see how Oxfordshire’s planning committee could give it the go ahead, or why indeed time and effort have been expended on something that would be bound to fail to gain permission if policies are adhered to as they should be.

Stevie Canadas, Hemel Hempstead