NEW plans for a giant power station at Southampton docks have been delayed, the developer has admitted.

Some homeowners put off their summer holidays as they waited for new proposals to surface on the controversial £300m biomass-fuelled plant after the original plans were labelled “monstrous” and sparked pollution fears.

The public outcry included two protest marches, and developer Helius Energy has since looked to reduce the size of the buildings of the proposed 100-megawatt plant at the Western Docks.

Now bosses have admitted that the new plans will not be made public until early next year.

Paul Brighton, planning director, said they were “addressing the visual impact issues raised”

with three new designs that will be subject to a new public consultation in the first part of 2012.

He said: “We are working hard with suppliers and the Port of Southampton to make changes to the siting, layout and external design of the scheme in response to the comments received.

“Regrettably this has taken longer than we had anticipated.”

Campaigners have endured an anxious wait for information as Helius looked at moving sections of the plant and reducing its height.

Proposed location of the Biomass plant

Steven Galton, of the No Southampton Biomass campaign group, dismissed the announcement as “smoke and mirrors”.

He said: “They are playing games and it’s frustrating as people’s lives are being affected.

“Some people did not book summer holidays because they were worried they would miss the consultation.”

Fellow campaigner Eloisa Gil- Arranz, who lives in Beech Road, said lives were being left “in limbo”. She added: “At every opportunity they let us down and it’s what we’ve come to expect.”

If the new consultation is completed early next year, a new planning application will be made soon to the Infrastructure Planning Commission, which can take up to a year to make a decision.

After building work this will mean the new power station would not be operational until 2016.