Waste incinerator at Ince marshes
12 August 2009
The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, following a Public Inquiry held in April and May 2008, has granted Peel Holdings planning permission to build a Refuse Derived Fuel Generating Station at Ince Marshes.
This planning permission is for an incinerator to burn 600,000 tonnes of treated waste a year.
Mike Hall MP said:-
"I am extremely disappointed by this decision to allow Peel Holdings to build a 95MW waste incinerator at Ince Marshes.
"Having attended the Public Inquiry and given detailed consideration to this proposal I firmly believe there were very strong grounds for refusing this application. I am therefore very disappointed that Inspector Simon Gibbs has recommended the incinerator and associated issues for approval. I am equally very disappointed that the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has accepted his recommendation and granted the incinerator planning consent.
"Ince Marshes is a Greenfield site. The site has been in agricultural use for many years. This is a very open Green space in an already heavily developed industrial area. It is therefore a very significant part of our local environment.
"Ince Marshes is not designated in the Replacement Waste Recovery Plan as a site suitable for an incinerator. The former Cheshire County Council rightly had in place a comprehensive plan for waste management and it did not include Ince Marshes as a suitable site for an incinerator.
"The 100 Metre chimney stack of the incinerator, the size of two Olympic swimming pools stood end to end, will be visible for miles around. This will certainly have a detrimental impact on the visual amenity of North Cheshire.
"The decision discounts the existing congestion on the A56 and M56. It recognises that in times of emergency, whatever this means, there will be a problem with traffic and congestion. Any additional traffic going to and from the incinerator site will have an adverse effect on congestion and pollution from exhaust emissions.
"What is astonishing about the decision is the way the Inspector and the Secretary of State fail to take into consideration the fact that permission has already been granted for a 100kw waste incinerator at Weston Point in Runcorn. They see the incinerator at Ince Marshes as a Regional facility. This is exactly what the incinerator at Weston Point is. We certainly do not need two regional incinerators next to each other in North Cheshire.
"Both incinerators will be vying to burn the same waste. Economic considerations indicate that there is only sufficient regional waste to justify one incinerator, not two.
"To grant planning permission for an incinerator at Ince Marshes on the grounds that there is no guarantee that the incinerator at Weston Point will be constructed is reckless. Plans for the incinerator at Weston Point are well underway.
"This means that we now face the prospect of waste being brought to North Cheshire from outside the region and abroad. This goes directly against the principles of dealing with waste at local/regional levels. It also has significant implications for carbon emissions in getting the waste to Ince Marshes.
"This also puts the population of North Cheshire at risk of having two incinerators burning waste next to each other. This will double the concern of local residents about the impact on public health. They will not be reassured by statements that it is safe to burn waste. We already have very high mortality rates for heart attacks, strokes and cancer. Waste incineration has a history of concerns for the impact on public health. Now we have the prospect of having two waste incinerators within 2 miles of each other.
"Local residents will rightly be outraged by this very short-sighted and ill conceived decision.
"I will be speaking to members of RAIN (Residents Against Incineration) to get their reaction to the decision and to what they want to do next".
