A LITTLE over a year ago, a group of local residents were faced with a monumental task the size of, well, approximately two Winchester Cathedrals.

US-based incineration specialist Wheelabrator had announced it was hoping to build a massive waste-to-energy facility, so big it could have fit inside the Winchester landmark twice over, just a few miles outside of Andover.

But after stiff opposition from a group of concerned residents who mobilised under the Keep Test Valley Beautiful (KTVB) banner, Wheelabrator announced it was pulling out and scrapping its incinerator plans.

So how did a group formed at such short notice band together so effectively as to convince this US giant to reconsider and halt the project in its tracks?

Franticly, if the first few weeks are anything to go by.

Wheelabrator announced its incinerator ambition on February 14, 2019. On February 25 it would hold a public exhibition in Barton Stacey, before another in Longparish three days later.

“We had less than two weeks to get organised,” said Stuart Rippon, who handles communications for KTVB. “We didn’t do anything else for two weeks. We cancelled every other thing we had on, tried to get anybody involved. Talked to anybody we could, talked to their friends, to councillors.”

He added: “Without Facebook I don’t think we would have been successful. Within three days of the announcement we had 1,000 people sign up.

“And with the help of everybody in that community we managed to tell people what was happening, tell them what the issues were and get them to articulate them in their own words so that they could go into a meeting and ask [Wheelabrator] the awkward questions.”

Stuart recalls a hearing about a Wheelabrator representative popping into the local shop on the day of the first meeting in Barton Stacey. He was asked how many people he thought would turn out and said he expected maybe ten, 12.

More than 150 residents attended that meeting.

That kind of complacency was something the developer displayed often during those early meetings, according to Stuart.

“Wheelabrator were so obtuse in their answers,” Stuart continued. “They clearly weren’t briefed. They were telling people what they wanted to hear.”

Not that everyone believed it. Pupils from Longparish school had even met with company representatives at one point to hear more about the proposals.

“One of the pupils said, ‘they were lying!’” added Stuart.

Despite their momentum, at this point the campaigners still didn’t have a name. Keep Test Valley Beautiful was agreed upon at a subsequent meeting, as was the group’s slogan and focal point of the campaign - Bin the Incinerator.

“That was the best thing we did,” added Stuart. “It was so simple and people just got behind it.”

As the group’s backing grew, so did its range of expertise and contacts. Ex-journalist Henry Yelf says it was around this time that he got involved, taking over press and publicity for the group, and one of his goals was to gain national newspaper coverage for the campaign.

“We were handed around the national newspapers, but we realised it wasn’t really a national story,” he said. “We needed a celebrity.”

Henry was aware that Chris Tarrant, of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? fame was a keen fisher on the nearby River Test. After a few phone calls, the campaign had a celebrity backer and word of their cause was spread in the likes of the Daily Mail and the Telegraph.

But the campaign didn’t progress without difficulties. A big problem was volume, and reaching such a wide base of residents.

Rather than affecting one main town or city, the development would have impacted a number of smaller, more disparate areas.

And though social media helped with contacting these people, it presented other issues in that different communities fell under different local authorities, and also different MPs.

Kit Malthouse, Caroline Nokes and Steve Brine were each involvement with the project at one point or another. So too did various parish and town councillors weigh in on the matter, with organisers since praising their “sterling” work.

There was of course pockets of opposition during the campaign - although sometimes this proved to be a blessing in disguise.

Some residents complained about the ‘Bin the Incinerator’ signs, including the huge banners set up along the A303, but if anything this publicity only helped spread the word.

“We noticed we got thousands of applications to join us after, and we got publicity because everyone was fighting our cause,” said Stuart. “Even when we got people trolling us, they would very quickly be taken down by the community as a whole.”

Another key aspect of the campaign was funding. Many locals had contributed to the cause financially and organisers say this enabled them to bring in experts to advise on certain issues.

It meant that when the November consultation rolled around, the group were able to submit its formal objection addressing all the necessary issues, thanks largely to the help of a planning consultant who was “worth every ounce” they paid her.

And KTVB were not the only group formalising its objections. Various town and parish council’s echoed the group’s sentiments, while the borough council blasted Wheelabrator’s consultation as a whole saying”inadequate information” was provided.

Moving into the new year, the issue remained a hot top. It was even discussed in the House of Commons as Ms Nokes, MP for Romsey and Southampton, thrice broached the subject at in Parliament.

From there, Wheelabrator had been set to meet with the county and borough councils, as well as KTVB. But these meetings were cancelled, pricking the ears of organisers.

Then on February 20 - marginally more than a year after getting the ball rolling - company bosses announced it was scrapping the scheme.

This week, during a discussion with Henry and Stuart over the reasons for the decision, Stuart said: “I think they realised they had been caught out and they had not done a good enough job on the consultation. And they realised there was very, very strong support against it and they realised there was a lot of work to be done on that.”

With the campaign over, the group says it still has work to do. Already they are speaking with others running similar campaigns across the country, passing on their experience. Leftover funds that had been raised during the campaign will also be ploughed back into the community, with conversations to be had over how that can be best achieved.

And there is still one big question yet to be answered.

“You don’t know anyone who wants to buy 1,500 ‘Bin the Incinerator’ stickers, do you?” asked Henry.