A CONTROVERSIAL bid to build an incinerator in Suffolk was boosted today following news that more than £100million in funding has been secured.The subsidy of £102million from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), will cover around half the cost of building the waste burning facility, which is earmarked for a site in Great Blakenham.
A CONTROVERSIAL bid to build an incinerator in Suffolk was boosted today following news that more than £100million in funding has been secured.
The subsidy of £102million from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), will cover around half the cost of building the waste burning facility, which is earmarked for a site in Great Blakenham.
The total cost of the project, spread over 28 years, is estimated at more than £600 million.
Repeated calls have been made for a public inquiry on the issue over health concerns and the way in which the preferred site was selected.
Bryn Griffiths, assistant director for environment at Suffolk County Council, said; "I am pleased that Suffolk has been given such a substantial subsidy to build the waste treatment facility.
"Now that the funding has been agreed, the next stage is to ask contractors to signal their interest in submitting tenders for building and operating the facility.
“We will be publishing a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union to alert interested companies of the opportunity.”
It was back in January that Suffolk County Council announced it had chosen a transport depot at Great Blakenham as the “preferred” site for the energy from waste incinerator out of the six shortlisted options.
The authority has said it chose a preferred site to ensure the tendering process is “competitive” although it has not ruled out considering bids to build the incinerator on other sites.
Last month it emerged that a site near Felixstowe was also short listed as a possible location for the incinerator as well as the land earmarked for the SnOasis development in great Blakenham.
The Evening Star has launched a campaign to fight any attempts to build an incinerator in great Blakenham.
Do you believe Great Blakenham is the right place for an incinerator? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk
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