Waste plant appeal inquiry to take place in September
A PUBLIC inquiry into whether a waste firm should be given permission to build a controversial refuse treatment plant in Derby will take place in early September.
The site, in Sinfin, was the main element of a contract between the city and county councils with Resource Recovery Solutions (RRS) to deal with the county's waste for 27 years.
The plant would use a process called gasification, which involves treating refuse with heat, producing gas which is burned to provide power and turns the waste into ash. It would deal with 180,000 tonnes of household waste a year.
The contract was signed a week before the planning application for the site was discussed – and refused – by city council planners.
Their refusal came despite officers recommending the plant be given the go-ahead.
The decision came amid fears from residents and campaigners that emissions from the plant could cause health problems.
Last month, RRS confirmed it would appeal.
It has now been confirmed that the public inquiry to deal with the appeal will take place in early September.
But the city council said the exact date and venue were to be confirmed.
New details of the company's appeal, which appears on the city council's website, says RRS will show that the plant "will not result in a severe detriment to residential amenity in the area or significant harm to the environment by virtue of emissions from the plant".
RRS will also aim to prove the site will not make existing traffic problems in the area worse.
The document says RRS will also demonstrate that the size of the building would not "rudely intrude into the outlook from the adjoining residential properties".
Simon Bacon, a member of Sinfin, Spondon Against Incineration (SSAIN), which is battling against the Sinfin plant, said his group was aiming to be as important in the appeals process as the city council and RRS.
He said: "We are hoping to have some expert witnesses. We've got a few people lined up but I can't reveal who they are yet."
Mr Bacon said he was disappointed he had not been contacted directly about the appeal by the city council because he had been among those speaking at the original planning meeting. He said: "We feel we are being kept in the dark."
The Derby Telegraph previously revealed that the city and county councils will have to pay thousands of pounds so that RRS can fight the refusal of permission for the site.
The RRS contract also means the firm would be compensated by the authorities if the appeal failed.
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by David Gale, Derby North
Thursday, April 22 2010, 11:42PM
“Di - that's an unfortunate choice of countries for a pro-incineration reference. Switzerland may have one of Europe's most advanced incineration industries, built mainly on the back of legal requirements put in place by its government, but it also has one of Europe's most advanced anti-incinerator movements. Clearly, incineration is not accepted as a viable option by Switzerland's population.
Rather than dealing with waste at its source (eg packaging design), incineration assumes that you will keep producing waste at today's rates. Any shortfall and the taxpayer will be required to further subsidise the incinerator operator. That's before we even start talking about the EPA's own misgivings about the lack of research data on nano-particle toxicity. It's strange, isn't it, that government will err on the side of caution when a volcano errupts but when its ex-party whip has been paid £30,000 for 'consultancy' and now chairs SITA's Advisory Board, it is happy to gamble with the public's health and introduce punitive targets and legislation to force the use of incineration.”
by Simon, Blagreaves, Derby
Thursday, April 22 2010, 9:48PM
“Incineration companies will use any number of names to hide the fact this is incineration because they know people dont like incineration. Personally I like the term bonfire in a box !
Di maybe Switzerland burns its waste but that does not mean we should. You say that all combustable non recyclable waste is burnt in Switzerland. In Derby recycling levels are around 44% and in many areas of the county where the waste will also come from its as low as 30% or less so the waste wont match what you suggest is burnt in Switzerland. Instead of funding appeals and paying RRS £50 million towards the plant the local councils should pay us to recycle via the recyclebank scheme now operating in the UK. We will never reach zero waste while depending on burning waste for energy.”
by di, derby
Thursday, April 22 2010, 6:35PM
“When you think of Switzerland - do you think of a polluted country?
Well ...
Municipal waste
Since January 2000 all non-recyclable, combustible waste in Switzerland must be incinerated. In 2004 Switzerland's incineration capacity reached 3.29 million tonnes. It is no longer necessary to dispose of any combustible waste in landfills.
Incinerators have undergone vast improvements in recent years and burning municipal waste now produces only minimal amounts of air pollution in Switzerland.
Energy from waste
Incineration plants are also a source of energy: the 28 Swiss facilities generate enough electricity for 250,000 homes. This in turn means that 215,000 tonnes less oil derivatives need to be imported for heating purposes.
(ref swissworld.org is published by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs)
No-one is saying incineration is completely pollution free, but can we afford to keep sending waste to landfill and buying in coal/ gas/ oil for power stations?
Switzerland has years of experience - we should be taking advantage of that to make sure any plants anywhere near Derby are at least as good as Switzerland's best.”
by David Gale, Derby North
Thursday, April 22 2010, 5:05PM
“For the sake of accuracy, it would be helpful if the incineration lobby's public relations euphemism 'gasification' wasn't continually regurgitated by the press.
'Gasification' is classed as 'incineration', even by the European Union's Waste Incineration Directive.
The other euphemism commonly used is 'waste to energy', which hides the fact that incineration plants produce four times the CO2 per megawatt compared to a conventional coal-fired power station.”
by peter, spondon
Thursday, April 22 2010, 11:21AM
“also one more point they claim to bring employment to derby ..out great council have made a start .people using the recycling centre on raynesway .may have noticed a change of staff .well this rrs took over derby tip on 1/4/01 .previous it employed 21 full time staff 19 from derby 2 from newark .and a few more bosses . they all lost thier jobs .now it is manned by 16 northhampton workers and 4 derby . is that good for derby .no ...also rrs have not a very good record .remember cumbria the flood that washed the bridges away ..well the resvoirs above used to be kept 3/4 full .they took it over filled them the heavy rains came causing overflowing . flooding cockermouth and causing distruction to many homes .and a policeman drowned .yet they were reapeatably warned not to fill the resvoiurs .and derby city council bring them to derby .pete”