Council joins in the incinerator protest (From Winsford Guardian)

Council joins in the incinerator protest

10:24am Sunday 15th October 2006

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VALE Royal Borough Council has vowed to stand alongside residents and action groups objecting to waste proposal plans - including an incinerator - for the area.

The authority has objected to numerous proposals that form part of Cheshire County Council's Draft Replacement Waste Local Plan and is using consultants to support its case against the development of potential waste management facilities in Vale Royal.

The plan is currently the subject of a major public inquiry which is being heard by Government inspector Andrew Mead.

Environmental policy councillor Mark Stocks said: "This plan is not good for Vale Royal or Cheshire as a whole.

"It will be a travesty if our residents are rewarded for being the top recyclers in the north of England by having an incinerator sited on their doorsteps."

He said the inquiry needs to accept waste management technology is developing at a rapid pace and as a result incineration may be outdated.

Solution He added: "The county council should not to forge ahead with this solution but consider becoming an innovator in the waste management arena by encouraging new technologies."

Brian Cartwright, chairman of Cheshire Anti Incineration Network (CHAIN) said more time should be devoted to implement greener waste management alternatives.

He said: "It seems ludicrous that we are talking about building incinerators in a borough with one of the highest recycling rates in the country.

"Incineration is not compatible with the principles of re-use and recycling which the residents of Vale Royal have worked so hard to adopt in the past 18 months.

"The county council needs to heed our views and use their time and money to support the sustainable initiatives residents across Cheshire are adopting."

The borough council has already been present at four round table sessions at the inquiry debating projected waste volumes, Cheshire-only waste, site selection and thermal treatment versus other technologies.

Further appearances are scheduled to debate sites allocated at Lostock, Oakmere and Winsford.

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