In a fabulous development for all concerned with fighting against incinerators, the news that Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary has refused to sanction £169m of public money for an incinerator scheme in Norfolk due to massive local opposition is a great boost.

In a case which mirrors our local fights, the plant at Kings Lynn received massive local opposition, had been rejected by the local councils and the objectors groups had the backing of the local MP’s (sounds familiar???).

The decision now puts other incinerator projects under a big question mark as it appears that the Government are now conscious of local opposition and of how deeply residents feel about these burners.

To read the full story as it was originally published follow this link to the Independent.

Middlewich residents will naturally be delighted to read that their efforts, and those of the rest of Cheshire East, have resulted in the amount of waste being sent to landfill plummeting. Latest figures show that the amount of waste sent to landfill in Cheshire East last year dropped by 1,000 tonnes giving the Council a saving of over £100,000.

DEFRA figures also showed that the Council has the highest recycling rate of any Unitary Authority in the North West with 49% of all household waste being recycled from November 2010 to November 2011.

Add to this the new silver bin scheme being introduced in 2012 and we could see rates in excess of 60% recycling being achieved in Middlewich by the end of 2012.

Contrast this however with the reality of living in Middlewich where there is a newly agreed landfill site on the outskirts of town, and an incinerator plant planned for the same area. It does rather beg the question, what do residents have to do to avoid having other people’s rubbish dumped on their doorstep?

In an astonishing turn of events, despite the overwhelming evidence at the recent Northwich public inquiry which clearly demonstrated that there is sufficient burning capacity in Cheshire already built and planned to handle the entire North West’s waste, a new proposal has been announced to build yet another incinerator, this time on Deeside.

Quite astonishingly, this new plant is planned for Deeside Industrial Park and if given the go ahead would be upwind of us here in Cheshire so we would suffer from its output once again.

It beggars belief that so many of these plants are being proposed, and many even given planning permission, turning this part of the UK into a dustbin for the country’s rubbish. This, and all the other plants, only make financial sense when there are Renewable Obligation Certificates to help pay for it all as without the subsidies from these then there is no credible argument for them. Add to this the downward trend of residual waste in the UK and the upward trend of recycling and you have to ask the question, what exactly is it these pyromaniacs want to burn? Answers on a postcard please…..