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colchesterfoeEADT, Letters.
Dear Editor,
Congratulations to Colchester council for rescinding the Memorandum of Understanding and letter of support for Essex County Council's waste PFI bid signed by the previous Tory administration (EADT 10/10). This was to be rubberstamped by Defra imminently, but PFI bids require support of all the councils and also require 'broad public support'.
In May 2007 the details of the waste PFI bid became public. It includes two massive 'MBT' plants at Basildon and Rivenhall, which shred and dry waste to make fuel pellets called Solid Recovered Fuel to burn in an incinerator at Rivenhall. These do not have public support which the recent misleading and simplistic waste consultation tried to prove.
Colchester LibDem councillors led the way a decade ago when they opposed incineration in the Waste Plan. The Waste Consortium of District Councils fought the county council at the 1999 Waste Plan inquiry. There were 25,500 objections lodged to incineration in the Essex Waste Plan.
In 2001 the Conservatives won the county council election in a landslide victory after a vociferous anti-incineration campaign. Lord Hanningfield pledged 'no incineration' and promised a referendum if it was proposed. Yet the Conservatives alone rubberstamped the Waste Plan, saying they were legally required to include incineration.
Two councillors and I took ECC to the High Court in 2002 and proved there is no legal requirement to include incineration in waste plans. Opposition county councillors then proposed amending the Waste Plan to exclude incineration from Essex. It was vetoed by the Conservatives, so incinerators are still permitted on any of the waste sites including Stanway and Sandon.
In the 2002 War on Waste consultation 76% of respondents opposed all six options for MBT and incineration. 69% supported alternative Option 7, drawn up by campaigners and councillors, with high recycling and composting, separated kerbside recycling collections, local baling and composting, no MBT or incineration and aiming at Zero Waste by 2020.
Well done Colchester council for now adopting Option 7!
Paula Whitney, Co-ordinator,
Colchester & NE Essex Friends of the Earth,
4 Shears Crescent, West Mersea.
Dear Editor,
Congratulations to Colchester council for rescinding the Memorandum of Understanding and letter of support for Essex County Council's waste PFI bid signed by the previous Tory administration (EADT 10/10). This was to be rubberstamped by Defra imminently, but PFI bids require support of all the councils and also require 'broad public support'.
In May 2007 the details of the waste PFI bid became public. It includes two massive 'MBT' plants at Basildon and Rivenhall, which shred and dry waste to make fuel pellets called Solid Recovered Fuel to burn in an incinerator at Rivenhall. These do not have public support which the recent misleading and simplistic waste consultation tried to prove.
Colchester LibDem councillors led the way a decade ago when they opposed incineration in the Waste Plan. The Waste Consortium of District Councils fought the county council at the 1999 Waste Plan inquiry. There were 25,500 objections lodged to incineration in the Essex Waste Plan.
In 2001 the Conservatives won the county council election in a landslide victory after a vociferous anti-incineration campaign. Lord Hanningfield pledged 'no incineration' and promised a referendum if it was proposed. Yet the Conservatives alone rubberstamped the Waste Plan, saying they were legally required to include incineration.
Two councillors and I took ECC to the High Court in 2002 and proved there is no legal requirement to include incineration in waste plans. Opposition county councillors then proposed amending the Waste Plan to exclude incineration from Essex. It was vetoed by the Conservatives, so incinerators are still permitted on any of the waste sites including Stanway and Sandon.
In the 2002 War on Waste consultation 76% of respondents opposed all six options for MBT and incineration. 69% supported alternative Option 7, drawn up by campaigners and councillors, with high recycling and composting, separated kerbside recycling collections, local baling and composting, no MBT or incineration and aiming at Zero Waste by 2020.
Well done Colchester council for now adopting Option 7!
Paula Whitney, Co-ordinator,
Colchester & NE Essex Friends of the Earth,
4 Shears Crescent, West Mersea.
