Incinerator decision was deferred to allow a site visit (as requested by G Cox). The site visit, however, was already planned with Viridor and is to Colnbrook incinerator which happens to be run by... Viridor!! Also, is not yet operating..!!!Planning Committee agreed yeasterday to a site visit to the Colnbrook incinerator. I hope they will please notify us of the details of the visit and ensure that the public can attend on site?
We observe that the officers had arranged things already with Viridor for next Wednesday. They did not inform the Committee how they selected this incinerator, that Viridor run it (joint venture with Grundon) and that it is not yet operating. Why was the the Committee were not given this information and does the officers arrangement with Viridor meets standards on impartiality and conflicting interest?
Protestors fight planned incinerator site in heart of city
Mar 12 2009 by Andrew Dagnell, South Wales Echo
THE heat was turned up on plans to build an incinerator in the heart of Cardiff yesterday.
Protesters gathered outside City Hall before a planning committee meeting, promising to fight the proposed £1bn development in Splott.
Waste management firm Viridor, backed by Cardiff City directors Mike Hall and Paul Guy, had hoped to get the go-ahead for the plant, which will burn 350,000 tonnes of rubbish a year.
But the decision was deferred until next montColnbrookh, so the committee could visit the proposed site at Trident Park and another incinerator in Colnbrook, near Slough.
Moments before the meeting, Friends of the Earth Cymru members living in the site’s surrounding area waved placards and banners and donned gas masks to show their disapproval.
Cardiff University lecturer Andy Williams, 31, of Adamsdown, said: “As a resident, I’m concerned that this is going to be on my doorstep.
“I’ve just had a son and he’s one month old. The thought that he is going to be growing up breathing in heightened levels of
toxins and impurities is awful.
“There are better and greener solutions.”
Anne Greagsby, 56, of Lake Road East, Roath, said: “I think the plans are absolutely crazy and really stupid.
“This is like building the Titanic part two.
“This will bring extra lorries into the capital and it’s going to form a huge carbon footprint and recycling will be taken less seriously.”
Grandmother-of-four June Johnson, 62, lives at Bayside, Splott, just under a mile away from the site, and said she was concerned for her and her grandchildren’s health.
The community worker said: “We have already put up with the stench and smells from Corus and the sewage works.
“With the extra traffic as well this is going to be a disaster. Me and two of my grandchildren have asthma and from a health perspective we will be living in a nasty radius of this monstrosity.
“Where was the public consultation? I knew nothing about this plan until it was nearly through planning.”
Meanwhile, Splott Liberal Democrat councillor Gavin Cox, who requested the site visit, said: “I’m against it totally. I reject the options that have been put before the planning committee today.
“The area is unsuitable and the infrastructure cannot support the area. I’m also against the fact that this is a 25-year plan, as in five or 10 years there might be better alternatives.”
A Viridor spokesman said: “We welcome the request of Cardiff Council’s planning committee to undertake a visit to the site of another fully constructed energy- from-waste facility to help inform their decision on our application.
“While we are naturally eager to receive planning permission and progress with the Trident Park project, this request demonstrates the expected thorough approach being adopted by the council in reaching its decision.”
About the proposed site visit
www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=246&listitemid=6770
Colnbrook (Lakeside) incinerator – this plant, operated by Grundon/Viridor and sited next to the M25, (opposite Heathrow Terminal 5), was to have opened this year (2008) with a capacity of 410,000 tonnes. However, the main building contractor, Japanese company Itochu-Takuma, identified some defects in the plant during testing which has put back the opening date to July 2009. The problems relate to the economiser units, which recover heat from the combustion gases and help to make the plant more energy efficient. (see Grundon, Viridor or Let’s Recycle websites for further information). The plant is due to take waste from Berkshire, Wiltshire and Dorset .
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