Newspapers
27 May 2008
A HI-TECH state of the art air quality monitoring station has been set up in Eastbourne to monitor for ultra small airborne toxic particulates.
It will provide a check on air pollution which may be carried to Eastbourne after a controversial new waste incinerator comes into use in Newhaven.
The monitoring station has been set up in Holly Place in Willingdon Trees in a joint project between the University of Brighton, local resident Colin Amess and his associated companies, and Eastbourne Borough Council.
The partners say it will fill a gap in the measurement of minute toxic particles that are not within the statutory measurement criteria for the Environment Agency in its evaluation of risk from incineration plant pollution.
The council has funded and provided the site and the University of Brighton and Mr Amess are providing equipment able to capture these fine particles from the air.
The University of Brighton will carry out the analysis of the captured material to record the chemical make up of the particles.
The project reflects increasing concern by the international scientific community that the toxic effects of particles smaller than the Environment Agency's current baseline are disproportionately more harmful to health and remain largely unmonitored.
By analysing the chemical 'fingerprint' of any pollution and its journey path, the monitoring station will be able to provide information to show whether the operation of the proposed Newhaven incinerator will cause a significant increase in pollution when it becomes operational.
The station will also provide general air quality information.
May 16th.2008
A LEADING health expert has warned the proposed Ince Marshes complex could cause birth defects, liver damage, respiratory conditions, behavioural problems and slower development in children, plus increase the risk of cancers. Dutch dioxins researcher Dr Gavin ten Tusscher gave evidence for campaigners Residents Against Incinerator (RAIN) at the penultimate day of the inquiry into the proposed Ince Marshes complex yesterday (Thursday).
Dr. Gavin ten Tusscher
Dioxins are one of the waste products from combustion in incinerators.
He said: “In the industrialised world dioxins are everywhere to be found, and we are all exposed to them.
“Dioxins readily pass the placenta and are found in relatively high concentrations in breast milk. Children are thus already exposed to high concentrations of these most highly toxic chemicals, prenatally and postnatally.
“If children are already showing negative health effects at current background dioxin levels, it is certainly not wise to increase the background concentrations.
“Any emissions from waste incinerators, however small, whether as a result of standard operating or as a result of accidents or human errors, will only increase the background exposures. It is then to be expected that the negative health effects in the population at large will increase.
“It must be remembered that the background concentrations are not limited by national borders and hence any additional emissions to the environment will only add to the global burden.
“It is then my opinion, as paediatrician and scientist, that it is not wise to build the proposed waste incinerator.”
Thursday May 3rd. 2007
Health Risk
by
Julia Lewis
FAMILIES living downwind of incinerators are more at risk from infant death, heart disease, cancer and autism, health researchers claim. Michael Ryan and Dr Dick van Steenis believe babies are more likely to die if they are exposed to fumes from incinerators like the South East London Combined Heat and Power Plant (SELCHPP) in Deptford. The researchers point to Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures showing infant mortality rates ward by ward. Areas downwind of the incinerator in Landmann Way have an infant mortality rate more than four times that of wards upwind of the plant. ONS figures show that, in wards north-east of SELCHP, infant deaths are 7.1 per 1,000 compared with 0.9 per 1,000 south of the plant.
Findings
They maintain research carried out in the US
backs up their findings but that the Government
won’t listen to them. Because of the prevailing
westerly wind, they claim, areas to the north-east
of an incinerator are most affected by dangerous
emissions that contain PM2.5 particles – a cocktail
of heavy metals small they can be breathed in.
Dr Van Steenis, a retired GP and once adviser
to a House of Commons air pollution select committee,
said: “There is nothing to screen out PM2.5 particles in the UK and there
is no regulation.”
Dr Frederica Perera, professor at New York’s
Columbia University and director of Columbia
Centre for Children’s Environmental Health, said:“Many studies,
including our own, have found that
in utero or childhood exposures to PM2.5 particles,
or pollutants in the particles, are associated with
adverse respiratory health and neuro development
in children, and may increase the risk of cancers
later on in life. But Chris Smith, of the
Government’s Environmental Protection
Directorate, said no permit would be issued to an incinerator operator if a
health risk was likely. Emissions were tightly controlled under EU limits
and incinerators regulated. A spokesman for Environmental Services Association,
which represents
the waste management industry, said incinerators
had to operate to ”extremely high”
standards.
IMPOSING: the SELCHP
plant in Deptford
Sunday 29th April 2007
HUNDREDS of baby deaths a year are being linked to pollution emitted by public waste incinerators.
Researchers have established a significantly
higher death rate among children up to one year old when they live under smoke
from an incinerator chimney.
There is a lower death rate for children who live out of the path of incinerator
emissions.
The report comes after a detailed analysis of death rates across the country.
Dr Dick van Steenis, a retired GP who helped head the study, said: “The
incinerators are burning all sorts of material from domestic waste to hazardous
chemical and radioactive waste.
“The danger comes from the particles released into the atmosphere. They
are of a size that can be easily inhaled into the lung where they lodge and cause
damage to the body.”
The most damaging particle, known as PM 2.5, is particularly harmful to youngsters
he said. “Newborn babies are more likely to succumb to damage from chemical
pollutants in these inhaled particles.” He added: “Around every
single incinerator, infant mortality rates, asthma rates and autism rates are
sky-high.
“That’s if you live under the smoke stream from the chimney. In areas
nearby which don’t get the smoke, the death rate is either at the national
average or lower.”
The data has been collected from the latest official statistics covering
the years 2003 to 2005.
Enfield in north London has the UK’s largest incinerator
at Edmonton. The death rate for babies up one year old in west of the borough
is virtually nil.
But in eastern Enfield, which sits downwind of the incinerator and is exposed
to smoke from the chimney, the death rate is between 10 and 12 per thousand of
population. The national average death rate for babies up to a year is 5.2 per
thousand.
Dr van Steenis said that he had accounted for other factors that could increase
the death rate such as social deprivation. He pointed out, for example, that “leafy
middle-class areas” of west London were affected by emissions from a big
incinerator at Colnbrook near Slough. In some parts around this plant infant
mortality rates are treble the national average.
“We compared those areas with nearby well-to-do wards that didn’t
get emissions and they were significantly lower than the national average.”
Professor Vyvyan Howard, an expert on environmental pollution from the University
of Ulster, said dioxins released in the burning of rubbish had been shown to
be cancer causing.
He said that while incinerator filters take out 99 per cent of particles, it
is the ultra fine one per cent – the PM 2.5s – that can have
chronic effects on health.
London Waste, which owns the Edmonton incinerator, said it had not seen the van
Steenis report. A spokesman said: “We use a proven technology with a track
record of safe operation and it is recognised throughout Europe as a safe and
efficient method of energy generation.
“There is no consistent evidence that our facilities cause adverse
health effects.
“We continually monitor particulates such as PM 2.5s and the levels
released are lower than the maximum permitted.”
Main picture - Matthew Taylor MP addressing
a packed audience
Inset picture - Dr.Dick van Steenis
S.T.I.G. thanks the St.AustellVoice for their support and coverage of our campaign.
Wednesday 20th.September 2006
Stop Contract as 'twin' incinerator explodes
For bigwigs the timing could not have been worse.
As they champion the merits of an all-singing, all dancing incinerator for St.Dennis, an identical model up country has exploded - causing up to £10 million worth of damage and potential harm to the environment.
And in a further blow, councillors from St.Dennis and Roche saw the devastation at first hand - having accepted an offer from waste company SITA to inspect the plant.
The blast destroyed the inside of the incinerator - meaning tax payers had to fork out thousands of pounds to landfill their rubbish.
And SITA faces hefty fines after pollution went into the air and possibly a canal.
Now John Wood, councillor for Restormel Roche Rock ward, and Fred Greenslase, Restormel councillor for St.Dennis Rock ward, say plans to sign a £500 million waste contract, with an identical incinerator at it's heart, should be scrapped.
Cllr. Wood said : "For the people of Cornwall, this accident could not have happened at a better time. It proves these incinerators are not safe - that is all there is to it.
"It gives Cornwall County Council the opportunity and justification for reviewing it's stance"
The explosion happened at the five year old Kirklees plant in Huddersfield, when an engineer overode it's computer system. A water pipe burst, which put out the incinerator fire. The engineer pored in 28,000 litres of diesel to re-start it, which turned the water into steam. The machine buckled and exploded.
Putrefying waste will have to be left for NINE WEEKS while the situation is being sorted out.
Cllr. Wood added : "We thank SITA publicly for giving us this most unexpected opportunity to witness for ourselves just what happens when a modern EFW goes wrong."
The Voice tries to take the heat out of the incinerator debate and asks the question of our county newspaper
"Since you weren't there, how could these smiling faces of protest possibly be construed as 'violent' ?
Open letter from St.Dennis Incinerator group
"Disgusted at the public being lied about, but facts ignored"
STIG were dismayed on reading the Cornish Guardian
last Wednesday that there must have been another protest in the village, that
we were obviously not invited to nor would have approved of. The one
that we attended was peaceful, if rather cross. The one that
the paper described sounded down-right violent.
It is interesting that Cornwall County Council have chosen to see the exercise
of the democratic right to protest in such a threatening light. Even
more illuminating is that as the only disinterested party that evening,
the police force described the protest as peaceful, although with one minor
traffic collision.
On this, STIG would like to make three points.
Firstly; that if the County
Council cannot be trusted to tell the truth about a demonstration, then how
can we trust their word in other matters ?
Secondly; surely "public consultation"
should not be carried out behind locked doors with invited persons only. The
threats to end even this highly limited consultation can only be evidence that
the Council has tired of even this very limited part of the democratic process.
Thirdly,
the "minor traffic collision" was instigated by Sita UK boss Peter Wright,
when he drove into protestors.
STIG is disgusted that lies about
members of the public can be printed in the newspapers, but factual (if distasteful)
events that actually happened are ignored.
On this we can only conclude
that the lives and health of local people are valued less than the reputations
of the bosses of big businesses.
7th.May 2008
Even more people are taking it upon themselves to campaign against the proposed incinerator - and the latest are MAD grannies who took to the streets of St Austell town centre on Thursday.
Mad grannies, standing for Making A Difference, formed due to a shared interest - of protecting their grandchildren, and others that live in St Dennis.Between them, they have eight grandchildren in the village, with a further five who visit regularly, and don't want them to live in the shadow of the SITA run, Energy From Waste, incinerator.
One of the four grannies, Pat Blanchard, said: "We don't want 240,000 tonnes of rubbish burned next to the gardens and parks where our grandchildren play. We don't want a 400ft chimney spewing out toxins over their homes and school.
7th.May 2008
The debate surrounding the proposed incinerator and the cost of a public inquiry continues to heat up.
In response to two readers' letters in last week's St Austell Guardian, Cornwall county councillor Bryan Rawlins has detailed how the £163 million price tag of an inquiry has been calculated."Claims that funds are available for a public inquiry is not the case at all, and never have been.
"The £1 million that confuses this issue is a fund held by SITA as a reserve to cover their legal costs should a full public inquiry ensue.
"The £163 million that I have quoted as a cost to Cornwall's taxpayers is predicted on the enquiry directing that the present waste contract be overturned and alternative proposals be progressed."
Due to not being able to guess just how long an inquiry would take, trying to guess how much it will cost is also rather problematic.
The Belvedere inquiry on exactly the same subject matter opened in 1992 and came to a close in 2003.
With landfill tax costing £1m per month of taxpayers money which goes straight to the Government, Cllr Rawlins feels that this money would be better spent on affordable housing if it had to be spent on anything.
However, as the vetting of the incinerator application continues to take more time, more and more people are joining the campaign for a public inquiry. One of those people is Pat Blanchard who, between her and three friends, has formed MAD grannies.
MAD, standing for Making A Difference, will be taking to the town centre on Thursday, aiming to get more people to sign the petition for a public inquiry.
Pat said: "Councillors are very free with quoting figures when it suits them, but won't say, for instance, how much of our money they spend on buying Rostowrack Farm from Lord Falmouth.
"All financial details have been blacked out in the version of the waste contract the public is allowed to see.
"It's like wading through treacle trying to get to the truth of all this, yet it is £163m of our money, not theirs, they spend.
"How much will the haul road cost us, if it comes out of highways budget you and I will be subsidising SITA."
St Austell and Truro MP, Matthew Taylor, says he is still confused as to where the figures and information that Cllr Rawlins quotes, is coming from.
"Brian is still confusing two issues. The first is the time and cost of an inquiry into the proposed incinerator, if the application is called in by the Secretary of State," he said.
"Such an inquiry was always allowed for in the county council's planning, precisely because the proposal breaches planning guidance. And there is no reason such an inquiry would take years as Brian suggests it might.
"What it would do is give everyone the chance to have their say, and for the case for the incinerator to be independently judged."
The second issue Matthew still feels has been confused is what happens if the County's plan is thrown out or amended by the inquiry.
"If that is Brian's worry he clearly believes the county council's case may not be strong enough. If so, the county should never have committed to spending hundreds of millions on it in the first place," he said.
"Instead they can adopt quicker, better solutions, with smaller scale facilities dealing with the waste safely in closer proximity to its origins.
"And Brian has still failed to explain the extraordinarily detailed figure he gave as the cost of an inquiry. Nor has the county council chief executive explained it, even though I have asked her to. But then incinerators are all about rubbish."
10th.October 2007
RESIDENTS' HEALTH FEARS RAISED BY WASTE OPPONENTS
Campaigners battling against plans for an energy-from-waste incinerator in Clay Country have urged councillors to listen to health concerns about the plans.Members of St Dennis Incinerator Group (STIG) went to County Hall, Truro, yesterday morning to hand councillors copies of a DVD which outlines health concerns about incinerators.
The group has been campaigning against plans to build a single, energy-from-waste plant in Cornwall to deal with all the county's waste.
The plans are a major part of a waste contract for the county which was awarded to Sita last year.
The DVD handed to councillors was of a film of a public meeting held earlier this year by STIG which featured a presentation by Dr Dick Van Steenis, an industrial emissions expert, who has carried out research into the impact of incinerators on the health of those who live nearby or in the path of emissions.
STIG campaigners Jackie Salmon and Jean Amos were at County Hall yesterday and said in a statement: "We are keen to get his message to as many people as we can. Time is running out and we hope that this DVD will help councillors see that it is a worry, not only for the people of St Dennis and the surrounding areas, but for the whole of Cornwall.
"Sita Cornwall UK and the county council have tried to discredit Dr Van Steenis saying that he is scaremongering. If this is the case why won't they let him come and talk to the councillors? They are, after all, grown-ups who are capable of making up their own minds.
"All the figures Dr Van Steenis uses are based on information gathered from the primary care trusts in the areas where there are already incinerators. In every case the figures show higher rates of infant mortality, cancers and many more illnesses downwind of the incinerators. In some cases these infant deaths are in the leafy suburbs and affluent areas.
"All STIG asks is that councillors take the time out to look at this DVD and make up their own minds - not toe the party line and do as they are told. After all, we the people voted them in to represent us not what they think is best for the party."
Tonight STIG is hosting a public screening of the DVD at St Dennis Primary School. The event starts at 7pm and is open to all.
The film can also be viewed on the group's website at www.st-ig.co.uk
23rd.may 2007
Interest Goes County Wide
More than 120 people were at Cornwall College
on Friday night for a public meeting organised to hear scientist Dr Dick Van
Steenis talk about his research on the effects of incinerators. The meeting
had been organised by campaigners in St Dennis who are fighting the plans for
an energy from waste plant which is earmarked for a site near the village.But
this meeting saw people from all over Cornwall going to hear about the possible
effects of an incinerator in the county. This is something that the St Dennis
Incinerator Group (STIG) has been looking for for some time - support from
around the county and not just in and around Clay Country.
The incinerator is something that will affect the entire county and it should
be something that is an issue for everyone and not just those who may be living
in the shadow of it.
It is encouraging, therefore, that more people are taking notice of what is
going on in the county and trying to find out more about it. Perhaps Sita might
want to also make everyone more aware of its plans and speak to the entire
county, and not just those who pester it for information.
23rd.May 2007
Expert Warns of Incinerator Dangers at Packed Meeting
A government adviser has warned of the danger
to public health posed by waste incinerators.A public meeting held at Cornwall
College in St Austell on Friday was organised by the St Dennis Incinerator
Group (STIG) and attracted around 120 people from all over Cornwall and as
far afield as Penzance.
STIG is campaigning against plans by French waste management company Sita to
build a waste incinerator plant in St Dennis.
Dr Dick Van Steenis, who is an adviser to a House of Commons select committee
on air pollution, told the meeting pollutants from the incinerator would affect
people living in Newquay and Bodmin, as well as St Austell, depending on wind
direction.
Dr Van Steenis said: "The danger comes from the particles released into the
atmosphere. They are of a size where they can be easily inhaled into the lungs
where they lodge and cause damage to the body."
Dr Van Steenis said the greatest danger comes from small particles known as
PM2.5, which are particularly dangerous to youngsters.
"New-born babies are more likely to succumb to damage from chemical pollutants
in these inhaled particles," he said. "Around every single incinerator infant
mortality rates, asthma rates and autism are sky-high."
In addition Dr Van Steenis said the effect of pollution would be all the greater
in the St Dennis area, where there were already a power station, waste tip
and china clay industry.
Cornwall County Council last year awarded the £500 million contract for
dealing with the county's waste to Sita. As part of the contract, the company
was asked to find alternative ways to deal with waste to stop using landfill
sites which are reaching capacity.
Sita has said a main part of its plans will be to build and operate an energy
from waste plant in Cornwall, with St Dennis as the preferred site.
Sita has so far refused STIG's request for a public meeting to allow residents
to air their views about the proposals.
STIG has enlisted the support of St Austell MP Matthew Taylor. Mr Taylor, who
lives in St Dennis, attended Friday's meeting and said a public inquiry was
necessary.
"People ought to have the opportunity to ask questions," he said.
But Sita has hit back at claims that incinerators are dangerous, and said modern
energy from waste incinerators posed a negligible threat to health.
In addition Sita say emission limits for such plants are stricter than for
any other plant type, including conventional power stations, and insisted they
were the next best thing to recycling.
Sita said its findings were backed up by a government review into the health
effects of incineration published in 2004, as well as a paper from the Health
Protection Agency.
A spokesman said: "Although Sita is involved in the full range of waste treatment
systems internationally, their considered opinion is that an incinerator to
supply energy from waste is the best solution for Cornwall."
STIG spokeswoman Jackie Salmon said the group would continue to collect evidence
to support its objections.
She said: "Sita has not yet submitted a planning application, but when it does
we hope residents from across the county will support us and oppose it.
"Friday's meeting was very encouraging and showed we are not the only people
who fear the consequences of what is proposed."
His research links incineration with higher infant mortality
Wednesday 29th. November 2006
A letter from Michael Ryan, Shrewsbury
Residents of Cornwall who think incineration is safe should look at the different average infant mortality rates in electoral wards that are upwind and downwind of Sita's Kirklees incinerator which exploded in September.
The "upwind" wards of Holme Valley North, Holme Valley South, Crosland Moor and Netherton, Golcar, Greenhead and Denby Dale had a total of 3,715 live births recorded in the three year 2003-5 and 13 infant deaths during the same period, giving an infant mortality rate of 3.5 deaths per 1,000 live births.
The "downwind" wards of Dewsbury (East, West and South), Batley (East and West), Birstall and Birkenshaw, and Mirfield had a total 5.560 live births and 55 infant deaths during the same three year period, giving an infant mortality rate of 9.9 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Sita also operates Edmonton Incinerator (North London) which adversely affects at least three London Boroughs. Chingford Green ward (Waltham Forest) had an infant mortality rate of 17.1 per 1,000 and was the highest in that borough during 2003-5. Ponders End ward (Enfield) is adjacent to Chingford Green and had the highest infant mortality rate in that borough at 12.5 per 1,000. Northumberland Park ward (Haringey) is the closest ward in that borough to Edmonton incinerator and also had the highest infant mortality rate in that borough at 15.6 per 1,000.
More information on incinerators can be found at www.ukhr.org.
I've examined infant mortality rates around 15 incinerators, two power stations, two oil refineries, one cement works and a foundry and found the same pattern in every case, i.e. higher infant mortality rates in the downwind wards compared to upwind.
S.T.I.G. Footnote :-
Michael Ryan, Chartered Civil Engineer became
interested in health issues after realising that the
deaths of two of his children could have been
caused by emissions from nearby Shrewsbury
Hospital incinerator.
25th.May 2007
MPS CALL FOR PUBLIC INQUIRY INTO INCINERATOR
Westcountry MPs are continuing to press for
a public inquiry into the building of a controversial waste incinerator in
Cornwall.Protesters against the proposed building at St Dennis, near St Austell,
are hoping the Government will step in and stop the project.
On the floor of the House of Commons yesterday Matthew Taylor, MP for Truro
and St Austell, asked Defra minister David Miliband for a public inquiry.
Mr Miliband said: "Because that is a planning issue, I obviously have to be
extremely careful about what I say, but there are two relevant points.
"First, Liberal Democrat Cornwall county council put forward the proposal,
and local Liberal Democrats, who are no doubt in touch with local feeling,
have decided that is the right thing to do.
"Secondly, it would be wrong for me to pop up and announce a public inquiry
today, and to interfere with the due processes."
Afterwards Mr Taylor said: "This Government doesn't know whether it's coming
or going on waste. With Government policy changing every few months, there
is no way the proposal should go ahead until it has been subject to scrutiny
at a full public inquiry."
The decision to have a public inquiry or not would be made by Ruth Kelly, Communities
and Local Government Secretary, once planning permission has been submitted.
22nd.May 2007
An expert on the effects of pollution is warning of a link between public waste incinerators and child death rates.Dr Dick Van Steenis told a concerned Westcountry audience that infant mortality rates and asthma rates go "sky-high" around incinerators.
The warning shocked residents of a Cornish village that could be the site of a proposed incinerator.
Dr Van Steenis spoke to a packed audience of concerned people from St Dennis in Mid Cornwall and the surrounding area at a presentation on Friday evening in St Austell.
VILLAGE NAMED AS SITE FOR £80M INCINERATOR
11:00 - 21 July 2006
The site for a multi-million
pound incinerator in Cornwall has been revealed, sparking fury among protesters.
After months of intense speculation, council bosses yesterday named the village
of St Dennis in Mid-Cornwall as the location for the £80 million waste
plant.
On Tuesday, a contract was signed between Cornwall
County Council and French company Sita, which will be running the plant.
Councillors were split 35 to 28 in favour of the scheme, with four
abstentions.
Planning permission for the waste plant at Rostowrack Farm, St Dennis, which
will provide around 70 new jobs, has yet to be granted.
Villagers are backing the call from local politicians for a public inquiry.
Although Rostowrack Farm is a greenfield site it can be built on under the Cornwall
Minerals Plan 1988 as a site for the development of plant ancillary to the china
clay industry.
Protesters last night expressed their dismay over the decision which will see
the plant constructed just 400 yards from the village of 2,000.
Lynne Simms, of the St Dennis Against Incineration Group (Stig) last night vowed
to fight the proposals.
She said: "We are beyond furious about these plans to ruin our village.
I always feared it would be St Dennis. The whole village is angry - we will not
take this lying down.
"Before the decision we had between 40-50 members. Now that our fears have
turned into reality more people will join us. I've already spoken to around 20
and they are set to join us.
"I think a lot of people thought if they kept quiet nothing would happen
to us - but now we have something tangible to fight against the council will
see they have made a huge mistake in taking us on."
The group argues that lorries taking rubbish to the incinerator will clog up
the roads around the village and will produce harmful emissions damaging the
environment.
Jackie Salmon, secretary of Stig, said: "All I can say is I'm very sad.
When you think of all the derelict land there is in Cornwall and all the brownfield
sites, that they should choose a piece of land which is farming agricultural
land at the moment and which is only 400 yards from our village, which has got
over 2,000 people in it, is beyond belief."
Grandmother-of-two Sally Lobb, 50, was born in the village and has lived there
all her life. She said: "My two grandchildren live a stone's throw from
where the council wants this incinerator. I'm terrified about the emissions and
what it will do to the children's health. There is already a lot of asthma around
here - it's a disgrace the way we are being treated. But we will fight this."
Political groups in Cornwall have also expressed outrage.
But leader of Cornwall County Council, David Whalley, defended the decision.
He said: "I sympathise with the people of St Dennis but of course there
are some advantages. It will bring new jobs into the area and it will provide
some additional employment."
£80M INCINERATOR DEAL STOKES VILLAGE ANGER
11:00 - 19 July 2006
A multi-million-pound
contract to build a controversial incinerator in Cornwall has been signed.
The preferred bidder for the £80 million operation,
French-owned SITA, will carry out the work.
Yesterday, after a two-and-a-half-hour private debate, Cornwall county councillors
voted by 35 to 28 for signing the contract. There were four absentions.
The announcement as to where in Cornwall the incinerator will be built has yet
to be revealed and has sparked fury from protesters, who turned up outside County
Hall in Truro, with banners.
It is understood the four possible sites initially considered have now been whittled
down to just two, although the council is remaining non-committal.
Coun Jim Currie, leader of the Conservative group, walked out of the debate after
his amendment was rejected.
Mr Currie was pushing for the contract to be brought back in front of the council
in the event of any changes.
"I'm really disappointed," he said. "We have effectively signed away total control
to a private, profit-making organisation.
"SITA will simply do as it pleases now and there won't be a thing the council
can do about it - they can rewrite the contract if they so wish. We have been
far too rash in this decision and should have taken more time."
Coun Andrew Waters, who voted against signing the contract, said: "I'm not against
incineration but there are far too many grey areas in this contract - it needs
to be looked at again."
A new company, SITA Cornwall (Ltd), is being formed to manage the contract which
will last for 30 years, although the project has yet to obtain planning permission.
There has been intense speculation that SITA will site the incinerator near the
village of St Dennis.
Last night Lynne Simms, spokesman for St Dennis Anti-Incinerator Group (Stig)
vowed to continue the fight to stop the development. She said: "Naturally we're
disappointed the vote was passed - but to be truthful it's what we expected.
Now that the contract is to be signed the real fight starts."
The group, which has 40-50 members, argues that lorries taking rubbish to the
incinerator will clog up the roads around the village and will produce harmful
emissions. Mrs Simms added: "Up until now it's been 'well it might not happen'
but now the public can see the situation is serious, we expect more support."
But those who back the signing of the contract said it was time to press ahead
with addressing Cornwall's waste management problem.
Adam Paynter, the executive member for environment and heritage, said: "Until
now, because of commercial confidentiality, we have not been able to provide
members with details of the excellent deal that has been negotiated for Cornwall.
I am sure that other authorities - which have got less for a higher price - will
be envious."
Currently Cornwall landfills around 72 per of its waste, and recycles or composts
28 per cent. In future, just 20 per cent of the county's waste will go to landfill
under the terms of the new contract, which includes a requirement for the contractor
to recycle all separated waste collected by the district and borough councils.
Leader of the council, David Whalley, said: "We are confident that the contract
with SITA provides a value-for-money, environmentally sound solution to Cornwall's
long-term waste management needs."
Earlier this week Cornwall's five Liberal Democrat MPs demanded a public inquiry
into the construction of the site.
The five MPs say Government pressure for a solution to Cornwall's waste, which
is being hit by huge costs from the landfill tax, should not lead to a "rushed" solution
taken by councillors alone.
Dan Rogerson, MP for North Cornwall, said: "With the landfill tax threatening
to impose a huge burden on council tax payers, and tipping land running out in
Cornwall anyway, the need for new waste solutions is clear. But Liberal Democrat
policy is that an incinerator is the last resort after waste minimisation, recycling,
and examining all alternative technology. A full public inquiry would allow every
aspect of this proposal to be scrutinised and challenged in public, and independently
resolved."
Andrew George, MP for St Ives, said: "While we appreciate a public inquiry is
likely to be costly, it is important we have an opportunity to both test many
of the assumptions behind this particular solution and to test the resolve of
the Government to favour the type of energy from waste technology proposed. Whatever
the outcome, it is critical the contract seeks to maximise recycling and efforts
to protect the Cornish environment."
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