Telford incinerator plans scrapped

CONTROVERSIAL PLANS to build an incinerator in Telford have been scrapped.

Bosses at Sita UK today said they had no intention of appealing against a decision made by Telford & Wrekin Council in December to refuse permission for the waste plant next to the Granville landfill site at Redhill.

Following today's announcement, campaigners were celebrating winning their battle against the plans for the energy-from-waste plant, which would have operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The incinerator would have dealt with 62,000 tonnes of waste.

Nicola Dowlen, spokeswoman for Sita UK, said the decision had been made following a "strategic review" by the company.

Miss Dowlen said: "Following a strategic review we have decided not to appeal the decision at all and we will not be carrying out any more work in Telford."

She refused to reveal the reasons behind the company's decision.

More than 3,000 people signed petitions opposing the scheme and Telford & Wrekin Council was bombarded with 250 individual letters of objection.

Stephen Pessall, head of campaign group Telford Pain, said the announcement was "extremely good news for Telford".

He said: "We are very pleased. That's exactly the outcome we were hoping for.

"We are very happy that Sita have had a re-think about their position and decided not to go ahead with the development. Time and time again these incinerators have proved inefficient and extremely costly to the local community.

"It was in the wrong position and the wrong technology was being used. The group as a whole is thrilled with the news. Telford & Wrekin Council's plans board refused the application last December and said the 62,000-tonne incinerator was in the wrong place and would ruin the landscape."

Councillors refused the application on the grounds that it was on a green network site and would be visually harmful to the area. They also claimed it was not in keeping with the council's plans to reduce waste.

By Jason Lavan