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Burning issue is put on hold amid ‘flaw’ fears
CONTROVERSIAL plans for a 300,000 tonne a year incinerator were dramatically put on hold on Tuesday, amid concerns that crucial calculations could be ‘flawed’.
Politicians voted unanimously to defer the application, put forward by energy firm WRG, meaning a final decision may not be reached until September.
After the day-long meeting, the firm said the move would cause a ‘significant delay’ for the project.
It came after County Hall councillors warned that the need for the facility, in Greatmoor Farm, near Calvert, had not yet been proved – and could leave committee members looking ‘like fools’.
A planning inspector is set to plough through Bucks County Council’s waste strategy later this month – and calls were mounted for decision-makers to hold fire until there is a ruling.
Councillor Michael Edmonds, Conservative, said hearing sessions are due to start on February 21, and said: “What is the hurry?
“Do we have something to hide and a need to push this through quickly.”
Councillor Niknam Hussain, Liberal Democrat, who proposed deferral, said the council could be caught out if a planning inspector does not agree over the need for a 300,000 tonne a year facility.
Mr Hussain said: “What if he says these figures are out of date, and therefore the basis for the need is flawed? “We as committee members are being asked to make a decision on a document that’s not proven.
“We could all be made to look like fools in a couple of weeks time.”
Members of the council’s development control committee were told that County Hall studies had revealed 307,000 tonnes of rubbish are expected to be produced in Bucks each year, of which 108,000 tonnes is municipal.
If given the go-ahead, the plant would handle a mixture of municipal and commercial waste –although critics have queried the need for it.
WRG says it would convert waste, which would otherwise go into landfill, into 22MW of electricity – enough to provide power for around 36,000 homes.
After the decision was deferred, Dan Murphy, director at WRG, said: “We recognise that members of the development control committee had concerns, but we believe that they didn’t take not of the information that was before them.
“The deferral will represent a significant delay in bringing forward the considerable economic and overall benefits the Greatmoor energy for waste scheme represents.”
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Weather for Aylesbury
Saturday 26 May 2012
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CSJarrett
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 02:59 PMAt last, a little bit of sense from our councillors! I'm all for energy from waste (EFM) and better waste management, but the WRG plans do not go far enough in that respect. WRG need to look at the Kommunekemi facility near Svendborg in Denmark (they have a website) and how that is far more productive and efficient - and it was built in 1976! Modern lifestyles demand greater supplies of electricity and EFM can be a positive local solution (better than miles of pylons and cables losing 30% of the energy over long distances), but WRG have not thought far enough in their plans... Too much reliance on road deliveries (and the site is alongside the former Great Central and East-West rail lines); not enough consideration of the potential pollutants arising from some of the waste types, and little wider benefit for the Calvert and Claydon communities (e.g. district heating).
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