News is emerging that Lanarkshire Council in Scotland have awarded their long term 25 year waste contract to Viridor but it is based on them being able to build the controversial Dovesdale Farm incinerator.  The plan is currently under judicial review and is not going to be decided until October however the council have decided to go ahead and award the contract anyway.  The fact that Viridor may not be able to process the waste, at a plant that may yet be refused planning permission, doesn’t seem to have got in the way of the contract decision.

In a stunning show of Nimbyism, the Council go on to state that “No incineration of South Lanarkshire Council material will take place in South Lanarkshire – it will be treated in Runcorn”.

We’re sure that the poor beleaguered residents of Weston Point and Runcorn will sleep better now that they know that they will be burning waste from Scotland.

Whatever happened to the proximity principle?  Whatever happend to the basic planning rules that dictated that waste should be treated as close to the source as possible?  How can it possibly be in anyone’s interest, apart from the incinerator companies, to transport waste over 200 miles just to burn it? It’s a poor decision that will leave a bitter taste in the mouth of Runcorn residents.

Campaigners in Runcorn against the massive 850,000 tonne incinerator at Weston Point are up in arms over the latest twist in the saga of this incinerator.  The firm behind it, Ineos, want to increase the amount of refuse it carries by road from 85,000 to 480,000 tonnes a year, despite the lower figure being a firm commitment at the time of the planning application.

The reason they now want this change is that there are two linked issues which mean they cannot bring the waste in by rail as previously planned.  The first issue is that there is insufficient waste within the North West to be fed into the plant by rail, and secondly there is a lack of rail head availability at any of the other likely waste sources around the country which could potentially supply them with waste by rail.  This, they say, leaves them no option other than to bring in the waste by road.

Campaigners are furious over this ‘u-turn’ and are determined to stop it, and efforts on their part means that currently the number of Halton councillors objecting to this has risen from 8 to 16, along with the support of two local MP’s.  Despite this there is still a recommendation on the table for the planning committee to approve this change.

The lesson for campaigners all around the country is that you cannot believe what you are told at any point of the planning stage, as once planning permission is given it is almost impossible to stop any changes.

Campaigners in Northwich and Middlewich are watching these developments with interest as in both areas the transport issue is high on the agenda, but more importantly the revelation that Ineos is finding it impossible to source sufficient waste to fuel their plant from with the North West must cast severe doubts over claims by both Tata and Covanta that they are looking to build these plants to deal with local waste.  If Ineos, 15 miles away, cannot find sufficient waste to fuel their as yet unfinished plant, where do Tata and Covanta think they will be able to find it from?  I think we should be told.