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MP on the offensive over incinerator plan
Monday 16th March 2009, 4:19PM GMT.
The proposed incinerator at Harlescott is without doubt one of the most important issues to have arisen since my election as Shrewsbury and Atcham’s Member of Parliament in 2005.
As many people know, Veolia Environmental Services, the company responsible for collecting and disposing of Shropshire’s domestic waste until 2027, have been moving ahead with plans to construct an incinerator on a site in Harlescott.
The site already has a considerable number of environmental, archeological and aesthetic constraints placed upon it. These plans have been extremely controversial, and from the start I have insisted that I be kept up to date at every stage of the process. The incinerator would be capable of burning up to 90,000 tonnes of domestic waste a year and would be one of the largest such facilities in the West Midlands.
I have met Veolia and spent time talking with the chief executive of the company. Those meetings have been very constructive and my aim is not to engage in a tit-for-tat. Instead, it’s my role to challenge the plans and give residents the alternative view.
The plans for the incinerator have been the cause of great concern to my constituents. I have received countless e-mails, letters and phone calls from people expressing their concerns, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that the feeling against the plans has been overwhelmingly negative.
It was for this reason that I felt it absolutely necessary to hold a recent public meeting. Many who attended drew my attention to the negative health implications associated with a large incinerator, citing concerns that air quality in the surrounding area would be adversely impacted by harmful emissions. This is something which concerns me personally as the father of a two-year-old child who lives in Shawbury, a short distance from the site. I worry about the health implications for my child, and I know other parents do too.
The emissions produced by incinerators are an entirely reasonable cause for people to be concerned about their health. Indeed, were the incinerator to experience a plant failure, the consequences for the health of local residents, agriculture and tourism would be devastating.
Shropshire’s Waste Local plan specifically cites mass burn incineration as not being suitable for Shropshire’s waste needs, and for good reason. Shropshire has a formidable record on recycling and in recent years has consistently achieved recycling targets well ahead of schedule.
By 2007/08, 44 per cent of all household waste in Shropshire was being recycled. This is a statistic set against a Government target for recycling 40 per cent of all domestic waste by 2010. As a direct result of Shropshire’s extraordinary commitment to recycling, the rate of waste production growth has been falling significantly in recent years.
Because the waste production growth rate is falling, and because more waste is being recycled, it seems unlikely that there will ever be enough domestic waste produced in Shropshire to satisfy the needs of the 90,000 tonne incinerator, which Veolia seeks to build.
This is a serious problem. It means that Veolia’s taxpayer-funded incinerator may never run efficiently.
What concerns me even more is the route that Veolia may be forced to take to ensure the efficiency of their incinerator; allowing it to be used for the incineration of commercial waste. I am ardently opposed to this; it is not acceptable that the taxpayers of Shropshire should be made to foot the bill for the disposal of commercial waste.
Worse still, it is likely that any such decision would lead to commercial waste being imported to Shropshire from across the West Midlands and beyond for incineration. Not only would this contravene the idea that waste should be disposed of locally, it would also serve to penalise Shropshire for its excellent record on recycling.
I oppose the construction of this incinerator absolutely and am doing all that I can in my power to halt its construction. In the weeks and months prior to last week’s meeting I have written to the chief executive of Shropshire County Council calling on her to postpone the signing of all contracts relating to the incinerator.
In the coming weeks I will approach the Speaker of the House of Commons to ask for a debate on the incinerator and will meet other high ranking officials. I will also be approaching Shropshire’s Primary Care Trust directly to ask that they urgently look into the health implications of the incinerator for the people of Shropshire.
Ultimately, the most important force in opposing the construction of this incinerator is going to be you, the people. The public meeting saw the decision taken to establish a local task force who will work alongside myself to gain as much information as possible about the incinerator for the purpose of lobbying local and national decision makers against it.
Task forces have been successful in Shrewsbury before. Indeed it was largely the passion, commitment and hard work put in by all on the task force against college co-location that resulted in the abandonment of co-location plans that were just as inappropriate for Shrewsbury’s needs as the current plans are to construct an incinerator at Harlescott.
I know full well that this incinerator is not what the people of Shrewsbury or Shropshire want, and I look forward to working with a task force whom I have no doubt will show similar passion and commitment to working hard to prevent the construction of this completely unnecessary incinerator.
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good for him, we dont want these foreign firms building in shrewsbury to deal with their waste, to hit their european targets, this is a diktat from Brussells and we wont have it, we need to get rid of Labour, get out of the EU, bring back weekly bin day and get british jobs for british workers collecting it and building the infrastructure too
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Well said that man.
I for one am concerned that industrial or commercial waste from afar will be burnt at this site. I am then concerned about the traffic increase to the site.
It would appear that as long as this plan does not affect the prized West End of Shrewsbury then the council will give it the go ahead?
I would suggest that in way of highlighting our views on the incinerator that us rate payers, cancel our council tax direct debits and pay six monthly. Perhaps then someone from the planning will listen.
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i too am very concerned about this ‘public health experiment’ – we all know dioxin is deadly, look at that poor prime minister of Ukraine, the KGB spiked his drink with a dose, the incinerator would slowly over time expose us all to this, just because something takes years to kill you doesnt mean its any less dangerous than a poison which is more fast acting
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Daniel Kawczynski says he lives at Shawbury, do they still fly aeroplanes from there? If so is not the MP for Shrewsbury concerned about the pollution from those or are there insufficient planes to worry about?
I live 6-10 klm from Brisbane Airport and the dirt in the air is very noticable.
But then it is a Commercial and very busy Airport.
There does seem to be a serious lack of communication between your bureaucrats and business. Is this what ‘Pollies’ do to create work for themselves over there?
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I live fairly close to the proposed site and i’m not worried at all. If it wasn’t safe i don’t think that the council would even consider it.
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It’s good to see Mr Kawczynski listening to his constituents on this issue, and I support his words above.
I hope, too, that he has strong words with his Conservative party colleagues in the European Parliament, who voted to promote what he now opposes.
On Tuesday 13th February 2007 Conservative MEPs voted to PROMOTE INCINERATION as part of the EU-wide Waste Framework Directive.
Conservative MEP Caroline Jackson was a strong proponent of incineration in the European Parliament.
In fact, she was nominated by Friends of the Earth Europe for a “worst EU lobbying award” in the category “worst conflict of interest” due to her dual roles: voting through the EU Waste Framework Directive while working as an advisor to waste company Shanks.
Well done, Mr Kawczynski.
Now can we work towards a change of Conservative policy on waste and recycling?
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Thank you Mr Kawczynski for listening to the concerns and fears of the people across Shrewsbury not just those inHarlescott who will be blighted by this.
Anarobic digestion seems more appropriate and less toxic, who can’t we investigate this?
Unconcerned Resident…. you are being far too trusting. For these poeople economics will always win out.
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Good man. Mr Kawczynski is voicing the fears and concerns of many people. For those interested in this subject, Prof. Paul Connett will speak in Shrewsbury on Friday 27th March – ‘Incineration: an unacceptable practice in the 21st Century’ -7.30pm at Alington Hall, Shrewsbury School.
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Peole are washing themselves with different chemicals everyday, eating and drinking alsorts of aditives, spraying air freshners, spraying themselves with deodarants and you worry about this, but campaigners fail to mention any benefits.
Just build it, burn the rubbish, create energy, jobs etc.
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im not convinced by the greenwash from this company, we all know burning anything from a barbeque to funeral pyre, will be producing dioxin and CO2, both of these are a threat to human health, its an inarguable fact
Having a permit means nothing coal fired power stations are regualated and permitted by the Environment Agency and yet they are still harmful
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I’m sick of NIMBYs objecting to incinerators, phone masts, windfarms, green woodship powerplants and everything else that needs to happen somewhere.
NIMBYs object to incinerators to generate energy from waste, but it was NIMBYs that got Betton Abbots Landfill closed, and everyone complains about fortnightly bin collections.
You want your mobile phone to work, but you don’t want a phone mast near your home or school.
You want green energy, but you don’t want waste burned, or green woodchip burners or wind farms near you.
You want your bins emptied every week, but you don’t want landfill sites or incinerators near you.
Get a grip.
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Well done Mr Kawczynski.
With planning applications in for incinerators in Telford and Shrewsbury we need MPs to help local people shout about their concerns. People are right to be concerned about the effects on health. This is an unneccessary gamble with our health, particularly our childrens health. There is a strong scientific base of evidence which shows that the emissions from incinerators are harmful to health. It is lunacy to opt for a method of waste disposal that could have catastrophic effects on peoples health when safer alternatives exist. History is full of mistakes our leaders made. Take the precautionary approach when there is a risk of irreperable damage to health and the environment. Say no and keep Shropshire clean and green. We all have a right to breathe clean air.
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im getting angry, this is not on, its our land, not theres, we (the people) should be allowed to decide what goes there not a private firm
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I suppose Shrewsbury people would rather have it sited neared the poorer relations in telford. A case of not in my backyard guvner!
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No Y Mab.
I think people are questioning the whole policy of incineration when there are cleaner, greener alternatives, and when increasing recycling and minimizing waste through public education are the sustainable solutions to this difficult issue.
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Y Mab, I fail to see a single post refering to moving the incinerator elsewhere – nor does it mention this in the article?
The whole point is it is not wanted anywhere, nor is there apparantly enough non-recycled material in Shrewsbury for it… So why are we having this imposed?
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yuk not good
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not good for smells or local peoples health i reckon
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tory boy thanks to your maggie all our bin men work for french owned refuse companies, all outsourced by councils to biffa, sita etc
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I think Y mab is right, They never said no to the proposed incinerator on the Granville in Telford. This shows it is a clear case of nimbyism.
To many nimbys holding to much back. Build it in Shrewsbury and send Telfords waste to it, after all their waste goes into the hole in the ground at Telford.
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go get them dan, we want clean air and more recycling in shrewsbury now, not this thing
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Exactly John in my view this is a case of class divide the upper class weathier members of our society in Shrewsbury under no circumstances want a incinerator in Shrewsbury however it is ok for the working class members of our society who live in telford to suffer Granville and Ironbridge power station.
Makes you think somewhat!
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Sorry but why must you introduce class? Good grief look at the area this is planned for – this is a working class area if there ever was one.
Having failed to get a Telford/Shrewsbury angle pon this discussion you are now trying for a class issue.
There is no location issue nor class issue – we unashamedly reserve the right not to be polluted in our own homes whatever our ethnicity, pay packet or postcode.
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Idontbelieve – yet people of Shrewsbury do not appear to upset at having energy from Ironbridge or having waste disposited in Graville?
I wonder why that is? ;o)
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NIMBY
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i dont think its professional of the MP to name names because its not mr pollers decision it is the County Councils decision, its taken by your elected representatives, the Conservative Council albeit of Daniel Kawczynskis own party even! So if you dont like it (Which i dont) dont blame the civil servant, it is the elected members who are to blame, your conservative councillors on shropshire county council they chose to burn waste when the science tells us that this produces dioxins and furans which are carcinogenic toxins, NOx and other gases which are greenhouse gases and also local air pollutants that irritate the lung and cause coughs, colds, stinging eyes etc and soot, dust, PM10 and PM2.5 which get into the fine parts of your lung and cause asthma and long term breathing difficulties, all this is supported by scientific research and medical testing on animals and humans, as such if you dont want your waste burnt, if you want weekly pick ups, if you want more recycling services like plastic and such, then lobby your local councillor, make them spend more on recycling, threaten to unelect them if they vote to promote incineration in your area, thats democracy for you, dont like their decisions, get them out, its our money after all, not only being spent on the burning but also on the NHS bills for the walking wounded years later when the health issues will kick in
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Y Mab, I object to incinerators in Shrewsbury AND in Telford because they undermine the sustainable alternatives, which our well-informed democracy should be pushing for.
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headline grabbing
Its all spin over substance
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like the man says, its YOUR choice, because you vote them in and you pay their wages
Dont want it? you decide…
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its not reasanable for the MP to criticise mr poller in this way, he’s a professional no doubt unlike the MP, the MP should keep his personal comments in private and if he’s not happy with the decision, as I am not, then campaign against the incinerator itself for its wastefulness and poor environmental performance (Burning plastic causes more CO2 than landfilling it!) not against the person who made the decision
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we must never allow this, well done for Daniel resisting the diktat from brussels, this is theEU telling us what to do, even the bin men are french now, we must go back to weekly bin day and get british workers running the service in the interests of the UK not some foreign firm
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Tory Boy, I wonder if you could comment on the way Tories promote incineration in the European Parliament, but seem opposed locally.
On Tuesday 13th February 2007 Conservative MEPs voted to promote incineration in Brussels/Strasbourg as part of the EU-wide Waste Framework Directive.
Conservative MEP Caroline Jackson was a convinced advocate of incineration in the European Parliament.
For this advocacy, she was nominated by Friends of the Earth Europe for a “worst EU lobbying award” in the category “worst conflict of interest” due to her dual roles: voting through the EU Waste Framework Directive while working as an advisor to waste company Shanks.
I am glad that locally Conservative MPs seem to be opposed to the incinerator, but feel local people need some clarification about what the Tories’ official waste policy is.
Is it sustainable to propose something in Brussels and then oppose it when local voters start objecting to the policy?
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the usual defence is ‘they have them in europe and everyones healthy there’ but the western world have the highest rates of cancer in the world and clusters around industrial areas, its impossible not to implicate PM10 and dioxin in those cancer clusters if you look at the actual science
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its going to discourage recycling at a time when we’re doing really well with improving recycling rates, thats not good, i would rather they put on additional recycling schemes with all that money
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look at Italy too where they have poisoned the air with rubbish burning so much that their famous Buffalo Mozerella from around Napoli area has to be withdrawn from sale becuase of high levels of dioxin making it unfit for human consumption
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total waste in Shropshire is going down, veolias sums dont add up, there wont be enough rubbish to feed this thing unless they cur back on recycling schemes or import rubbish from telford and wales, this is not acceptable, we will not have commercial/industrial waste burnt here, it was promised
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i agree with the MP, the Conservative Council and their contractors and management team has let us down badly and we need to get a new Council who represents the people of Shrewsburys interests not the EUs
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