For a man with no immune system, I’m doing alright.
- Bucket list Ben
MP Kawczynski hopes Shrewsbury incinerator plan will be dropped
Sunday 25th July 2010, 6:00PM BST.
An artist's impression of the proposed waste incinerator at Battlefield
Shrewsbury’s MP has said he hopes controversial plans for a £60 million incinerator planned for the outskirts of Shrewsbury will be thrown out after similar proposals in Telford were scrapped.
Sita said it had no plans to appeal against the Telford & Wrekin Council decision to refuse the Granville site proposals.
On Friday it emerged that a meeting to decide the fate of plans for Battlefield, Shrewsbury, had been postponed.
Shropshire Council said a decision on the proposals by Veolia for the burner at Battlefield would now not take place until September 1, after residents were not given enough time to object before the original meeting, due to be held on Monday.
Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury, said he hoped the Battlefield plans could be scrapped completely as well.
He said: “I had prepared a statement to be read out by a constituent at Monday’s meeting so obviously I’m disappointed the meeting is not going ahead.
“I’m very encouraged by the way Telford has rejected their plans for an incinerator and the company behind it isn’t going to appeal. I just hope Shropshire Council shows the same foresight and sense to reject this one.”
A number of people who objected to the proposals said they only received letters from the council on Thursday giving details on how to register to speak publicly at next week’s proposed strategic planning committee meeting.
But they were unable to register as the letter said they needed to give two working days notice, which was not possible because of how late they received the letters.
Cat Slater, spokesperson for Veolia, said they would be pressing ahead with the plans and the recent setback was a minor delay. “We do not mind waiting until September.”
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good its madness to undermine all the good work gone into beautifying the town and attracting tourists
the incinerator would be a scar on the town for ever
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so true! left hand right hand! joined up government, these council managers must be stupid do they not talk to each other there are food businesses all over there they dont want soot and ash and dioxin in the food chain
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Here is a copy of my letter to the Star…
Shropshire Council has a statutory duty to reduce its carbon emissions and the planning process is clear. Planning Policy Statement 1: Delivering Sustainable Development, wants Councils to create a low carbon economy. Our “greenest government ever” wants Councils to help the UK to produce less CO2 and the planning system is key. The Climate Change Act 2008, makes it legally binding to reduce CO2 emissions because they harm human health and the environment and they cost the UK billions of pounds each year by effecting our climate.
So when confronted with a planning application for a waste incinerator in Shrewsbury, why do Shropshire Council officers recommend it gets approved? It seems so misguided. I wonder what relevant qualifications in waste management or carbon they have because they seem to have made numerous technical errors in their report regarding the alternative options and they have accepted a very weak Environmental Impact Assessment with limited analysis of CO2 pollution. They must have completely ignored the carbon impact of this development which even the applicant accepts will cause 60,000 tonnes of C02 pollution every single year!
Shropshire Council throws away 77, 000 tonnes of rubbish each year. Now by my calculations, using DEFRA’s figure of 320 kgC02 per tonne of waste landfilled, even landfilling this waste would only produce 24,000 tonnes of CO2 pollution every year. So Shropshire Councils planners are recommending a development which will triple CO2 emissions from the county! Now I think DEFRA’s figure is too high anway because most landfill emissions are these days mostly captured anyway with gas turbines on landfill sites so in actual fact it could be they are quadrupling CO2 emissions or worse. On these grounds alone the planning committee should turn this down as it has a legal duty to consider the negative impact of this development on climate change.
What we should be looking at is expanding projects like the Ludlow Biodigestor which are shown to have a massively positive impact in terms of reducing landfill, public popularity and also for CO2 emissions. If this incinerator gets built Shropshire Councils will have failed in its mission to cut costs and cut carbon emission, it will have a higher carbon footprint and a worse performance on a key national performance indicator. It will be exposed to the financial risk of being fined for its carbon emissions under the national CRC Carbon Trading scheme. If it goes ahead it will make a mockery of the waste local plan and strategic planning in Shropshire generally, its an unsustainable option environmentally and financially, the economics dont add up, it can only be funded by cutting the Ludlow biodigestor and other pro-recycling projects in Shrewsbury and in other parts of the county, that is simply a disgrace.
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Sandra,
Can you advise specifically how CO2, a low toxicity gas, which forms approximately 0.04% of the atmosphere ‘harms human health’?
I appreciate you are banging the climate change drum here, but shouldn’t you stick to facts, rather than making emotive statements based upon bad science?
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i can peter, yes. See its not directly toxic or anything i think you misunderstand the science. What it does is it acts as a “greenhouse” gas in the atmosphere. If you think this isnt harmful try sitting it out in a greenhouse or perhaps a sauna for a few hours, see how the heat effects your health! It is accepted by the UN and the UK Health Protection Agency that warming may leading to excess deaths in the summer months through eg. heat stroke, dehydration, heart and respiratory ailments being exaherbated by the extreme temperatures.
Further more there is the change in deisease vectors which could mean new species in the UK which is a risk to public health too.
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we must keep the pressure up, the people who decide on this are democratically accountable and we must make them aware that they will never get elected again if they burden the town with this evil thing
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if theres no need for a burner in telford then clearly the same logic follows there must be no need in shrewsbury then
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good on him, im against the “energy from waste” project on health grounds
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Daniel K ‘HOPES’ that the incinerator plan will be dropped.
The vagueness of this statement sounds suspiciously like it is a done deal.
It also enables him to rather sit on the fence don’t you think?
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I thought the very same Eva, what has happened to Demanding Daniel.
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because we are not yet in a situation where an MP can direct the Council to a particular action – that’s why we have 74 councillors – a handful of whom will make the decision for the whole community and not just Shrewsbury
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why should councillors from ludlow and oswestry get a say? of course they dont want it in their back yard so they’ll dump it on us against the will of all the locals
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Re: Sitting on the fence. Are you for or against this incinerator, eva?
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im strongly against it
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[that’s why we have 74 councillors – a handful of whom will make the decision for the whole community and not just Shrewsbury]
And they in turn can say that they ‘hope’ if they voted against this, that the application will be refused at appeal. So basically the councillors have a cop out too.
This ensures that quite a few people get pay/allowances from us to maintain the impression that we have a choice about things.
Simples!
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it would be an abomination on the landscape it looks like a space ship landing in the middle of the countryside it would ruin the battlefield site no wonder all the local businesses are against it (Battlefield cafe, local farmers, NFU, Albright Hussey Hotel etc)
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good luck to daniel and the campaigners, they are helping the taxpayer to save millions if they can get this scrapped, we all know that times have changed high levels of recycling mean now shropshires waste is too low to warrant a burner and a PFI contract is a stupid expensive way to buy anything, lets stop the debt and borrowing and get out of this PFI trap now
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i would vote for him if he can help stop this, i think we should be putting more investment into recycling and looking to cut back on disposal costs. so locking into a long term contract for guarenteed high levels of waste disposal is barmy
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im against this because it will give a bad impression for the town
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Let’s get it built and stop wasting money on inquires. When you see how much rubbish is still being placed in landfill when it can be turned into heat for electric generation. Also there will be quite a few jobs created.
It’s time our M P had something better else to do.TROOPS OUT OF AFGHANISTAN That’s what we need.
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but driver putting rubbish in landfill does create heat and electricity because by law all landfills now have to capture all the methane gas for green energy production
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If jobs are your priority, driver, then you might want to know that there are more jobs in expanding recycling than in incineration.
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what a ghastly looking building it really is ugly looking and out of character with shrewsbury
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this is unaffordable, the cheaper option is waste minimisation and recycling we just dont have the public resources to fund these schemes any more even if the private sector fronts the capital it means endless years of paying back the debt and paying for fixed amounts of rubbish disposal even when we expect waste will decline, this all adds up to skint councils cutting back on waste collection services and charging resident and business high taxes
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hes right to oppose it because his job is to reflect public opinion, i dont know anyone who thinks this is a good idea
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What you mean like all those cars and the signs telling them where to go?
If they aren’t mediaeval then we should get rid of them pronto Sam. Don’t you agree?
What about our waste and recycling centre? That doen’t look too mediaeval either. Tut tut.
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for the sake of next generations i hope they ditch this and chose the extra recycling option instead
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clearly these people have no idea of economic reality now there is no money left, lets hope the planning committee remind them of the recession and chuck it out
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Re: sitting on the fence.
eva land, on another thread you wanted me to apologise to you for interpreting your pro-incinerator comments as meaning that you were for the incinerator:
http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2010/07/20/plastic-added-to-shrewsbury-kerbside-recycling-scheme/ #20 and #29
In #20 you said you were just making ‘impartial comments’.
On this thread you attacked Daniel Kawczynski (#6) for ‘sitting on the fence’ over this issue.
Anyone who has read Daniel Kawczynski’s strongly-worded public statements, and those of his rivals in the election (West, Tandy and Whittaker), will find it hard to agree with you.
All 4 were unequivocally opposed to Shrewsbury’s incinerator.
So, eva, are you for or against this burner?
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yawn
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I am so glad you have acknowledged that I choose to merely comment on the views put forward regarding the incinerator. It was quite unacceptable that you did not read the posts I have made properly and made and voiced the assumption I support the incinerator.
Yet again however you are wrongly accusing me of attacking Daniel K. I have got a nephew taller than Daniel so that’s an interesting concept! :)
Read posts properly Huw. I pointed out that ‘hope’ could be construed a rather political word for ‘I have no say’ or ‘it is out of my hands’ and I asked what other people thought. I had an immediate response from someone else who thought the same.
Daniel K, like the others who voiced opinions on this issue before the election will be anxious to get credit or distance themselves depending on the likely outcome.
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to be fair daniel like all others is totally opposed to this nothing ambiguos there
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Those who voiced opinions on the incinerator before the election were anxious to distance themselves from the whole project, eva.
Their outspoken opposition to the incinerator before the election and the fact that, collectively, Daniel Kawczynski, Charles West, Jon Tandy and Alan Whittaker got over 94% of the vote, speaks volumes to me.
What do those who choose to merely comment on the views put forward regarding the incinerator think?
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like many tax payers i am appauled by the lack of consultation on this issue, this isnt something i want my taxes going on, get back to basics and focus on delivering core services frontline collections not sinking us all with debt on a disposal plant
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id rather the money was saved to reduce the burden of cuts on schools and libraries
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ashes to ashes dust to dust, cant be bothered to recycle ? fine dont worry let the taxpayer pick up the tab for turning it all to cinders, glass, wood, paper, food, metal all valuable commodities we need urgently in a rapidly resource depleted world, should be reuse them or burn them? what do you think?
unfortunately shropshire council are still in WASTE management mode, they need to get with the 21st century and get into RESOURCE management – dont destroy our resources, recycle them instead
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this should go as part of the cuts, rather this than playground and parks
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bring back weekly bin day
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axe this out dated unpopular choice now
create a recycling sorting factory instead, more jobs and better collection services would result from this
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i dont vote tory but i would vote for him if he can stop this happening, im really worried about house prices in bings heath and surrounding area with this and all the pollution and lorries it will bring in
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im really concerned that shropshrie council is economically illiterate, building this things is a false economy because the governments own figures show it costs about £125 per tonne to burn waste in this sort of process and yet it will only ever cost about £90 per tonne to bury it, so its going to cost more money that it will save, what they should do is recycle more which is cheaper still because you can make millions out of cans and paper these days
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i would prefer a greener option like an anaerobic digestion or MBT plant
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the greener option is to recycle so much of everything that there is no rubbish left for treatment at all
thats what they should be doing
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or a gasification plant even, the governments waste strategy says AD & gasification is the lowest carbon option
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We do not need a burner as our recycle rate grows higher each month Veolia have already said that there is insufficient waste available in the Town to sustain an incinerator and they will have to buy in waste to keep it going and to do this efficiently. A Plasma Gassification plant could still produce electricity albeit at a reduced amount but you only need a building equivalant to a 3 bedroom semi to do it and there are useful by-products like hydrogen gas which can be sold on. The plant also leaves a non-toxic residue that can be used in road making or industrial mats. An incinerator produces not only harmful airborne toxins but highly lethal bottom ash (flyash) which has to be transported to special landfill sites for disposal. I believe our nearest is Devon thats a long way to haul a significant amount of dangerous cargo. The councillors who vote on this need to think about the bigger picture and not just about how much it will line their pockets!!!
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i hope hes right for the sake of that area and all the pregnant women and asthmatics who will suffer if there going ahead with this
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im starting to see a pattern now, millions wasted on an unpopular incinerator and suddenly the council cant afford to do proper basic, so since the districts stopped running the waste services so they have axed; –
weekly rubbish collections in bridgnorth
textile recycling collections in shrewsbury
battery recycling collections in shrewsbury
mixed plastic skips in oswestry and criftins
bulky waste skips in south shropshire
picking up fridges for free in oswestry
free schools recycling services in shrewsbury
now weekly food recyclign in ludlow
in every aspect the council is going backwards under shropshire county council and recycling collections are getting more and more cut so that they can generate enough rubbish to justify having to burn it.
its all a con to get them off the hook for a badly run procurement of a waste contract which they cant really afford. They are trying to save face and get the incinerator build, when they know there isnt enough rubbish to justify one.
And now the government is getting greener and people are recycling more, imagine how little rubbish there would be if they had a proper decent recycling service in the county
AND they wont even come down my lane anymore AND worse of all they are FRENCH!
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i hope the plans will be dropped too they are not the best practicable environmental option
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shameful, we are just getting started in terms of recycling and they want to “throw in the towel”, give it another 5 years of investment in new recycling services i say and then see how much rubbish is left
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oh dear some conservative councils are talking to their conservative leader who wants to reduce rubbish and promote technologies like A.D. see link below
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10800759
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its such a stupid idea, to put all your eggs in one basket for the next 27 years
surely they would be better off waiting to see what happens with other treatment facilities in the region and wait a few years for new recycling technologies to take off
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oh what a suprise they are cutting the food collections in Ludlow and now I know why!
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what a waste of money this is, in these tough times surely this can go any frugal councillor on the planning committee must vote against this to help the councils long term financial position
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bumbling fools
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i am fiercly opposed to this in my neighbourhood (i live in Sundorne) and i fear it will effect house sales in the area and make it hard to sell properties to those with young kids who will worry about the pollution
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good point david, its very poor risk management by the council
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