BUCKLE up and prepare for a bumpy ride if you want to build an incinerator.That was the message to Suffolk council chiefs today from the man spearheading a campaign against a waste burning site in Sussex.
BUCKLE up and prepare for a bumpy ride if you want to build an incinerator.
That was the message to Suffolk council chiefs today from the man spearheading a campaign against a waste burning site in Sussex.
As exclusively revealed in The Evening Star last week, half of Ipswich's homes could be powered by a waste incinerator if a half-billion pound proposal gets the go-ahead.
The new incinerator could be in operation by 2013, a year before the last landfill site in the county could become full.
However David Rogers, a councillor in Newhaven, East Sussex, where a similar scheme has been in the planning for the past six years, has told The Evening Star it will be no easy ride pushing the plans through.
Mr Rodgers said a huge campaign has been running in his area including political opposition and public marches ahead of a final decision being made on the facility early next year.
He said: “Protests are going on all the time and have been for the past five or six years.
“There have been something like 15,000 written objections.
“People are concerned about emissions and pollution not to mention the pollution caused by lorries travelling back and forth from the site delivering waste.
“I would give a message to the people of Suffolk that it is a long process and they have got to be prepared for a long, hard fight but it is worth getting engaged with.
“Technology will move on over time and the pressure of local people's views will have an effect.”
The county council's labour group has already spoken out against the proposals and has been joined in its criticism by environmental charity Friends of the Earth.
The incinerator proposal, which would cost the council around £20million-a-year over 25 years to run, is due before Suffolk County Council's cabinet next Tuesday.
If the plans are rubber-stamped the search for an incinerator site is likely to start next year.
n. Is burning rubbish the right way to dispose of rubbish? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.
Weblinks:
www.suffolk.gov.uk
www.foe.co.uk
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here