letter to the Gazette, 30/4/10
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colchesterfoeGazette, letters page.
Don't accept waste bribe
Dear Editor,
The Conservative group want Colchester council to accept £800,000 from Essex County Council to help fund recycling trials, in return for Colchester agreeing to support the Essex Waste Strategy which Colchester's coalition refused to do in 2008 (1). The county council also wants Colchester to sign legally-binding 'Inter Authority Agreements' which the other districts have signed.
Colchester's Labour Cabinet member for waste, Cllr Tim Young, reported in early March that secret talks were at 'a delicate stage' but that 'any deal would not involve Colchester supporting Mechanical Biological Treatment plants'. Stanway borough councillor Lesley Scott-Boutell said she was concerned because Cory has permission to build one at Stanway Hall Quarry. (2)
ECC's third bid for PFI funding last autumn was successful and contracts are now out to tender, with five preferred bidders including Cory. The bid was based on a huge MBT (Mechanical Biological Treatment) plant at Basildon. It has been calculated that these costly 28-year contracts will cost council taxpayers around £8,500 each.
Lord Hanningfield and the Conservative county councillors pledged since 2001 that they would not support incineration, and that if it was proposed they would hold a referendum in Essex. Yet they approved the Essex & Southend Waste Plan which permits an incinerator on any Essex waste site. There has been no referendum!
They have approved massive Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plants which shred and dry 'black bag' rubbish and turn it into polluting Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) to burn in an incinerator at Rivenhall Airfield. Should Colchester support this strategy for an £800,000 bribe?
We would gain more income than that each year if we collected all our valuable recyclables separately, sorted at the kerbside into suitable vehicles as we used to do. A Colchester council recycling report (3) showed we are getting low prices by collecting our newspapers and cardboard mixed, smashing the glass colours together and mixing plastic bottles with other plastics, which then all have to be separated. Chelmsford was reported to receive around £2million a year.from properly separated kerbside recycling.
Yours sincerely,
Paula Whitney, Co-ordinator,
Colchester & NE Essex Friends of the Earth,
4 Shears Crescent, West Mersea, CO5 8AR.
(1) CBC full council and letter to papers.
(2) Colchester Gazette 3/3/10 and 11/3/10 etc.
(3) February 2009.
Don't accept waste bribe
Dear Editor,
The Conservative group want Colchester council to accept £800,000 from Essex County Council to help fund recycling trials, in return for Colchester agreeing to support the Essex Waste Strategy which Colchester's coalition refused to do in 2008 (1). The county council also wants Colchester to sign legally-binding 'Inter Authority Agreements' which the other districts have signed.
Colchester's Labour Cabinet member for waste, Cllr Tim Young, reported in early March that secret talks were at 'a delicate stage' but that 'any deal would not involve Colchester supporting Mechanical Biological Treatment plants'. Stanway borough councillor Lesley Scott-Boutell said she was concerned because Cory has permission to build one at Stanway Hall Quarry. (2)
ECC's third bid for PFI funding last autumn was successful and contracts are now out to tender, with five preferred bidders including Cory. The bid was based on a huge MBT (Mechanical Biological Treatment) plant at Basildon. It has been calculated that these costly 28-year contracts will cost council taxpayers around £8,500 each.
Lord Hanningfield and the Conservative county councillors pledged since 2001 that they would not support incineration, and that if it was proposed they would hold a referendum in Essex. Yet they approved the Essex & Southend Waste Plan which permits an incinerator on any Essex waste site. There has been no referendum!
They have approved massive Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plants which shred and dry 'black bag' rubbish and turn it into polluting Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) to burn in an incinerator at Rivenhall Airfield. Should Colchester support this strategy for an £800,000 bribe?
We would gain more income than that each year if we collected all our valuable recyclables separately, sorted at the kerbside into suitable vehicles as we used to do. A Colchester council recycling report (3) showed we are getting low prices by collecting our newspapers and cardboard mixed, smashing the glass colours together and mixing plastic bottles with other plastics, which then all have to be separated. Chelmsford was reported to receive around £2million a year.from properly separated kerbside recycling.
Yours sincerely,
Paula Whitney, Co-ordinator,
Colchester & NE Essex Friends of the Earth,
4 Shears Crescent, West Mersea, CO5 8AR.
(1) CBC full council and letter to papers.
(2) Colchester Gazette 3/3/10 and 11/3/10 etc.
(3) February 2009.
