£500m Gloucestershire incinerator gets go-ahead
A £500MILLION incinerator to handle Gloucestershire's waste has come a huge step closer, despite huge opposition from the public.
As expected, Gloucestershire County Council's cabinet yesterday agreed to sign a contract on Wednesday with Urbaser Balfour Beatty (UBB) to build the waste burner at Javelin Park, near Haresfield, despite planning consent not yet being awarded.
Angry campaigners believe the planning process could be influenced if the council has agreed to pay the company's costs should permission not be granted.
Other councils in similar positions have waited until planning permission is granted before signing on the dotted line.
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Councillor Stan Waddington, the county's waste champion, said increasing landfill taxes and a drive to reach 60 per cent recycling by 2020 was the motivation behind the project, which was first conceived four years ago.
He said: "If we don't do this we would be faced with costs of up to £190 million over the next 25 years."
Planners are likely to make a decision by December, but are likely to come up against renewed opposition.
Concerns over the effects on public health are top of the agenda for protest group Glosvain, whose members spoke out at the meeting.
Chairman Sue Oppenheimer said: "I'm jolly angry. Over 1,000 people have objected to this, but have not been listened to."
Mum-of-two Charlotte Keyle, from Nailsworth, said: "I don't feel the health issues have been looked into properly. People are saying this over and over again, but it is always dismissed."
But Prof Roy Harrison, an air pollution expert from the University of Birmingham, said: "The available evidence is that there is no significant impact on health with a facility of this kind."
Javier Peiro, managing director of Urbaser Balfour Beatty, said: "We are delighted with the decision because it shows commitment from the council to the project.
"There are still some concerns from the public but we run a number of facilities like this and our experts can help to answer their questions over the coming months."
The waste-to-energy plant will have a capacity for 190,000 tonnes, an amount some feel is too big for the county's demands.
Martin Rudland, from Gloucester Friends of the Earth, said: "We cannot fulfil this level.
"There are all sorts of ways to deal with our waste and these should be investigated."
Comments
by Areaman
Friday, September 14 2012, 9:15AM
“fiforinfo - also, guess how all the rubbish lorries get to Hempsted tip at the minute!”
by capital1978
Friday, September 14 2012, 7:49AM
“fiforinfo
Guess who makes the planning decision”
by fiforinfo
Friday, September 14 2012, 7:37AM
“Judging by the amount of waste required this will involve extra traffic coming off teh M5 to make the project profitable for UBB. If planning permission is not granted and the terms of the contract are invoked by UBB, I hope Councillor Waddingtons pockets along with other cabinet members are deep enough to cover the costs involved as they made the decision without gauging public opinion.”
by Bonkim2003
Thursday, September 13 2012, 7:38PM
“SELINA30 - Waste to energy was a key theme in the 2007 Energy and Waste strategies underwritten by the then Labour Government. Now Paramjit Dhanda - he would jump any which way and his technical competence - that is for you to judge.”
by SELINA30
Thursday, September 13 2012, 12:41PM
“So Parmjit Dhanda was not scaremongering after all.”
by Bonkim2003
Thursday, September 13 2012, 10:15AM
“fly ash is TOXIC- "flyash is toxic" where did you get that? unless you eat bucketful of that and concrete-line your stomach.
Flysah finds its way into a large number of building materials - concrete blocks, aggregate, mixed with cement (pozolanic cement), soil treatment, road, and car parks bedding material - you name it.
Flyash from energy from waste materials - similarly can be used in a variety of ways - and most civil engineering materials are buried/coated with finish materials so no hazard where used. The only situation where it poses some hazard - if sent to landfill and it raises dust emissions - but this is kept down by sprinklers and top coating of soil and no different when vegetation grows back.”
by Future2010
Thursday, September 13 2012, 10:13AM
“Large incinerators have not been built in the US for YEARS and some are closing down already in Europe. You may well ask why? This is old technology and it is being dumped in the UK.
While those who are pro-incinerators will obviously not agree with evidence indicating that there are indeed health issues in areas near incinerators, they will NOT be able to prove to you that they are safe, because there is no research to prove that they are safe. I suggest you ask them for proof. GCC are abandoning the "precautionary principle".”
by Future2010
Thursday, September 13 2012, 9:25AM
“In addition. over 5,000 people signed the petition organised by Gloucestershire Friends of the Earth opposing the incinerator. Unfortunately, and surprisingly, a large number of people in Gloucestershire still don't know about the incinerator proposals.
A lot of the information given by the "key players" at the Cabinet Meeting yesterday was full of holes and factually incorrect.
Stan Waddington was one of these "key players", for example, he made the statement at the meeting that "there is no such thing as toxic fly ash". It is a well documented fact that fly ash is TOXIC. It is very worrying that Cabinet members did not object to this statement. This wasn't Stan's only major error. Do the Cabinet members really believe what they are being told or are they simply following the Party line.”
by Walker100
Thursday, September 13 2012, 8:18AM
“Chairman Sue Oppenheimer said: "I'm jolly angry. Over 1,000 people have objected to this, but have not been listened to."
The approximate population of Gloucester & Stroud is !60,000 which means that 0.62% have officially objected. The rest either do not object or do not care to state a preference.
There are, apparently, over 350 of these types of incinerators across Europe. I have no doubts that if some of the wild assertions made by opponents (1,200 extra deaths, still births and baby deformities, target for terrorists) were true we would have seen headlines alluding to such.
I have no doubts my comments will be unpopular but they are, at least, factual.”