Viridor should follow SITA UK’s lead and drop proposals for an incinerator

By Luke Pollard, on Sunday, January 10, 2010

2010 has started well for those who oppose Viridor’s plans for an incinerator near Lee Mill, says Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for South West Devon Luke Pollard. Barely a week into the new year and already one of the bidders for an incinerator location has dropped out of the location competition citing “complex issues”. SITA UK had previously said it would submit plans for an incinerator in the Dockyard’s South Yard in Plymouth.

While SITA UK withdrawal does increase the chances of Viridor’s plans a bit, it also shows that none of these bids are secure and can be stopped. SITA UK haven’t explained what their ‘complex issues’ are but I can tell you that Viridor have a few ‘complex issues’ of their own – not least a local community now nearly 100 per cent opposed and organising against their scheme.

I know that Viridor read my comments about their plans and so let’s use this article as another opportunity to tell them that residents, a veritable army of amateur experts on incineration, are looking at New England Quarry and are preparing arguments against the New England Quarry scheme.

We have to remember though that SITA UK’s proposals and Viridor’s scheme are very different. Viridor have said they will proceed with a planning application outside of the waste partnership’s search for an incinerator location. They should be submitting their application anytime now (although they’ve been saying this for a few months now – could any further delay look like the company has some reservations about their own scheme?) That might be worth revisiting in a few weeks if they’ve still not submitted anything.

SITA UK’s decision also puts Gary Streeter, South West Devon’s Tory MP, in a difficult position. Having admitted he has known about Viridor’s plans for 18 months and done nothing about it, he said he would back proposals for the dockyard as an alternative to Viridor’s scheme. Now those plans are unravelling in front of him perhaps he will join those, who like me, believe the Tory Councils running the waste partnership should go back to the drawing board and look at whether one super-incinerator for the region is really what we need.

I’d also suggest they look at whether the region really has enough waste for an incinerator – now and for the next 25 years of the contract – to keep it economical and efficient. The truth is that the search for an incinerator is Conservative Party policy and as much as the local party in Ivybridge and the South Hams is finally getting activated to oppose it they could can the whole scheme if they wanted to.

Ivybridge’s Tory Cllr Roger Croad may cry crocodile tears over Viridor’s plans but he runs the body looking for a location for the incinerator. Despite calls for him to do so he hasn’t used the Christmas break to relieve himself of his horrific conflict of interest.

We can stop this scheme but our opposition to it must be based on more than simple disagreement with the location. Our argument needs to be based on sound planning terms with our arguments put in such a way that any planning committee (and I suspect any subsequent government planning inspector) will find compelling.

These, in my mind, need to focus on the traffic impacts on Lee Mill, the possible environmental impacts to the nearly environment and the River Yealm from day to day and exceptional circumstances. Let’s not also forget the visual aspect of the scheme. Then we need these arguments to be supported by the biggest letter-writing campaign our area has organised in decades.

Gary Streeter’s grandly named ‘task force’ on the incinerator meets for the first time on Friday. He has invited me to attend on behalf of Labour and I’m pleased to do so. I go into this meeting with an open mind about what it can achieve. Certainly, as a community we need a common front and common arguments – as I said above – based on planning law not emotions. Having been found sitting on their hands for 18 months before Labour began our campaign on the incinerator I’ll be interested to see whether Gary’s task force will produce any real action or be a body that keeps minutes but wastes hours. Let’s see.

Luke Pollard is Labour’s Prospective Candidate for South West Devon. Visit his website.