Protests against waste site disrupts key meeting

By [kgreen] kirsty green kgreen@derbytelegraph.co.uk

PROTESTERS opposed to a waste treatment site in Sinfin disrupted a meeting at which councillors agreed on the firms that will build the plant.

Sinfin residents and environmental campaigners held a demonstration on the steps of the Council House before the start of Derby City Council's cabinet meeting, called to make several key decisions.

And when the meeting got under way, they filled the public gallery, calling out their opposition to the waste site being built in Sinfin Lane.

The meeting was adjourned while the most vocal protester, Gary Woolley, was evicted from the meeting.

After being thrown out, Mr Woolley, of Victory Road, said: "Sinfin is run-down because it keeps getting things like this plant dumped on it.

"It seems in the eyes of the council nothing outside the inner ring road matters.

"I am against it because I am thinking about the potential health not just of my kids but of my grandkids."

Cabinet members agreed in private at the end of the meeting to appoint United Utilities and Interserve as the contractor who would deal with all of Derbyshire's non-recyclable waste – 180,000 tonnes a year.

The firms want to deal with the rubbish by building a treatment plant in Sinfin Lane, which would use a gasification process to turn rubbish which cannot be recycled into energy.

The council said that process emits virtually no polluting dioxins.

It would mean 125 lorries passing in and out every day – something which has angered nearby residents.

The companies will carry out a public consultation during February and March with the intention of submitting a planning application in April.

Residents and ward councillors were behind last night's demonstration, which was joined by around 50 people.

They have also started a petition and campaign against the site.

Labour Councillor Baggy Shanker, who attended the private section of the meeting, said the demonstration both inside and outside the Council House showed the strength of feeling.

"We have always said that we will work to oppose this and know the main way of doing that will be through the planning process," he said.

"However the large crowd which came to the meeting, and even the heckling from the public gallery – which I know some councillors said was unnecessary –- showed the strength of feeling that residents have."

Kiran Dhandu, of Redwood Road, in Sinfin, has helped coordinate the petition and the campaign. She said: "Sinfin residents came here to protest against the hundreds of lorries which will be bringing the materials to the new place along a road which is already struggling to cope with the amount of traffic."

Dorothy Skrytek, Derby and South Derbyshire representative of Friends of the Earth, said she was concerned about the emissions.

She said: "This site would be completely unsustainable, polluting and it is unnecessary."