Hundreds protest against incinerator
TEMPERS frayed last night as angry Clay Country residents vented their frustration over plans to build an incinerator on their doorstep.
Nearly 1,000 men, women and children packed into a specially erected marquee on St Dennis playing field – which could be in the shadow of the giant plant proposed by French firm SITA.
The meeting gave rise to some explosive gestures of support as speaker after speaker called on Cornwall County Council to throw out the application.
But it was in a quiet and sincere voice that one elderly woman summed up the feelings of many.
Reading a statement by St Dennis Primary School governor, Ginny Edwards, she pleaded on behalf of the children.
"The spectre of this has been hanging over the people of St Dennis for a long time. The psychological toll it has taken has been huge and many people have grown depressed about the perceived health threats to their children."
Then, speaking directly to the planning committee, she said: "Are you prepared to gamble with these children's lives? I am not, as a governor of St Dennis school, and I am not as a human being."
Stephen Gilbert, Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate for the new St Austell and Newquay constituency, won rapturous applause when he spoke of a "David and Goliath" battle.
"This community says with one voice, this is the wrong choice for Cornwall and the wrong choice for St Austell."
Carolyn Righton, Conservative parliamentary prospective candidate for the same constituency, mocked SITA's acronym, CERC, which stands for Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre. "I'm sorry but I refuse to call it an energy from waste plant. It is an incinerator."
A series of slides shown by ward representative Fred Greenslade demonstrated the sheer scale of the plant and how much it would dwarf the surrounding communities.
Julia Clarke, of St Dennis Parish Council, said the plant would be 400 metres from the nearest front door and to cheers from the audience pleaded with Cornwall County Council: "Where is your duty of care?"
Restormel Borough Council has already unanimously rejected the application.
Dick Cole, Restormel councillor and leader of Mebyon Kernow, said putting an incinerator on the outskirts of such a small community was a huge mistake. "There will be noise, smell, dust and light pollution, none of which have been taken into account," he said.
The meeting started with a largely un-heckled presentation by SITA, which says the plant would eliminate the need for landfill in Cornwall and would bring 250 new jobs while it was under construction and 48 when it opens. The spokesman said the CERC would not receive an environmental permit if its credentials weren't green.
The council's planning committee and other members of the authority silently listened to successive presentations. A date for the meeting to decide the application has not yet been set.
5 Comments
by R.Toms, Summercourt
Monday, September 22 2008, 6:42PM
“The problem with bottom ash is worse than you think. SITA have told the Environment Agency that they are going to "quench" it with water pumped out of the sump in the waste bunker. This water is considered toxic leachate because the EA have said that any water left over must be tankered to Gloucestershire. Therefore the ash will also be toxic and cannot be landfilled locally. The amount of bottom ash that will have to be dealt with is 60,000 tonnes per year. As I pointed out at the meeting the Building Industry regulators advise against this ash being used as aggregate as it acts like mundic. It cannot be used as substrate after the polution incident in Northumberland. The SITA incinerator on the Isle of Man has shifted zero bottom ash and simply stores it on site.”
by Michael Ryan, Shrewsbury
Saturday, September 20 2008, 8:19AM
“Will Sita's Cornish incinerator have similar adverse health effects to those highlighted by ONS infant mortality data at electoral ward level around their existing municipal waste incinerators at Kirklees, Coventry and Edmonton?”
by Trevor, Cornwall
Thursday, September 18 2008, 10:52AM
“In response to Richard at Newton Abbot, the toxic fly ash, which is estimated to be two lorry loads per day, will be transported to a site in Gloucestershire, a round trip of about 400 miles. The bottom ash which will be 50,000 tonnes each year, will, according to Sita, be used locally as secondary aggregate. It will not have escaped the notice of most people living in Cornwall or visiting Cornwall that we already have an abundance of aggregate which is the residual waste from the China Clay industry. In reality I do not think they know what they will do with the bottom ash except perhaps landfill it.”
by William, Devon
Thursday, September 18 2008, 10:30AM
“Perhaps they will dump it in india to cover over our 'Green waste' that councils Fine us for 'not sorting' properly but is then put of a great fuel consuming ship, and then dumped on the surface in India”
by Richard, newton abbot
Thursday, September 18 2008, 9:23AM
“I may be stupid but I always understood that about 30% of what goes into an incinerator comes out as ash (dependent on mix of wastes input) - where is all this going to be dumped?”