PLANNING chiefs have been branded "snobs" for snubbing plans for a power plant that could have cut household bills in one of Southampton's poorest areas.

City councillor George Melrose said his counterparts at Test Valley Borough Council turned down the proposals because of "class prejudice".

The power and heating plant, planned for Nursling, just off the M27, could slash heating bills by as much as 15 per cent in thousands of homes in nearby Millbrook.

But councillors at Test Valley Borough Council said the plant would cause environmental damage and vetoed it at a planning meeting last week.

Cllr Melrose, of the Millbrook ward, said: "I think it's absolutely disgusting.

"They don't seem to care about the poor people in Millbrook.

"I think it's terrible that a scheme like this should be put down due to class prejudice.

"I've been telling people over the last year about the scheme and they were very pleased, especially some of the older people.

"A lot of this is down to snobbery."

Test Valley borough councillor Anne Burrows hit back at the attack.

"Mr Melrose is talking absolute nonsense and should establish the facts," she said.

"If you get three professional reports and they all condemn the plant as unviable and uneconomical, then you cannot ignore that advice.

"We also took into account the borough and structural policys, we took into account it would be in a very beautiful area and we took into account the views of residents."

The power plant project, at The Crescent Industrial Estate, will go before a public inquiry on November 14.