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Leeds residents’ incinerator anger
AIRBRUSHED: Critics say the artists impression does not paint the full picture.
Residents across inner-city Leeds say they don’t want another rubbish incinerator on their doorstep.
Plans to build a huge incinerator capable of burning 180,000 tonnes of rubbish a year, are to be discussed at the council’s plans panel tomorrow.
Councillors will discuss Veolia’s outline proposals ahead of a formal planning application, expected to be submitted later in the year. It would cost around £550m to run over the next 25 years.
It would be the THIRD incinerator in south east Leeds.
Leeds City Council has chosen Veolia Environmental Services to build the 125m-long, 42m-high recycling and energy recovery facility – nicknamed “the greenhouse” – in Cross Green.
A campaign group against the incinerator has been set up.
Sarah Covell, of the ‘No 2 Incinerator’ campaign group, based in East End Park, said: “This has been going on since 2005. We are against incineration as a method of residual waste disposal. The alternative is recycling, we can in fact, recycle up to 90 per cent of everything we use.
“The artist’s impression of the incinerator has been airbrushed.
“I want to know what has happened to the 75 metre high stack at the back of the building which emits all the burnt rubbish? This would not happen in Alwoodley.”
Coun Mark Dobson, executive member for environmental services, recently said there was strong environmental and financial arguments in favour of the incinerator which would also generate electricity.
Landfill tax - currently £56 a tonne - costs the council £11.2m a year.
Coun Dobson said the bill for dumping rubbish in the ground could rise to £16m next year.
The private finance initiative-funded incinerator, on the former Cross Green Market site at Pontefract Lane, would be designed to virtually eliminate the rubbish Leeds sends to landfill.
Biffa is also planning a separate incinerator at the old Skelton Grange Power Station.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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Comments
There are 9 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
S A Covell
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 05:42 PMIt is fact that the waste streams in Leeds are reducing not increasing. Both the amounts of household and commercial waste are reducing and have been for several years. Factor in that recycling is on the increase, packaging reducing and the amount of "residual waste" requiring to be disposed of is diminishing all the time and we have no need to burn our rubbish. By bringing in food waste, textile and also glass collections, the amount of waste reduces even more. This incinerator will require 180,000 tonnes of material to burn year in year out. If the waste stream diminishes Veolia driven by profit will simply burn perfectly recyclable refuse which is an environmental crime. Contrary to whatever the local councillors state, the community of Richmond Hill was never told of the plans to burn commercial waste to top it up! And yes i have been told in a scrutiny hearing, that i had attended meetings that local councillors had also been to and that i was wrong and strangely they were right;and commercial waste was always planned for it. So as well as being misguided about what my community think (and it is mine as non of our councillors live in the ward they allege to represent) i am it seems a liar! To date the consultation has been shameful, the conduct of our local and many other councillors irratic in the extreme (depending on whether or not they needed votes at the time). The community of east leeds has consistently over many years said we do not wish to use incineration as a method of residual waste disposal - and we have been ignored, insulted and swept aside. I too like many other assumed a labour administration would halt the procurement process and re evaulate the need for residual waste disposal - which nobody disagrees with which will significantly reduce the amount of waste required to go to landfill. (co-incidently the high toxic fly ash from the incinerator will have to go to landfill which is rather ironic). Before all of this started back in 2005 i naively thought that local politicians represented their constituents views. The more you engage in local politics (albeit from the periphery as mere citizens have only influence not power) you see that what a councillor says to your face and what they do in committee are two different things. Only thing you can do is attend the committees, watch them perform and make your decisions to re elect them based on their performance. To date after watching all three of mine very carefully over the past four years i will vote for non of them or their parties in the May elections, it is time for change and it's time for the community of Richmond Hill to reclaim its right to be an equal partner in the city of leeds - not just the black sheep, dumping ground and poor relation who nobody considers worthy of listening to. There is one positive to the project though, will the residents of Garforth consider maybe not voting for Cllr Mark Dobson in East Leeds as he has at executive board said he fully backs this project, which will coincidentally from its 75metre (29 storey!!!!!) high stack waft its scientifically calculated plume all over his ward. Sarah Covell No2 Incinerator Community Organisation for Viable Environments & Neighbourhoods Richmond Hill
eastleeds
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 12:24 PMIts a disgrace that the area has been chosen by way of the underhand tactics of leeds city council and veolia ... The attitude of the local elected members has been disgusting aswell . Councillor Asghar Khan clearly used the anti incineration as the main part of his campaign yet walked out of the meeting when his chance to make good his word and vote against the incinerator and then returned minuets later when the vote had passed .He has committed an act of clear fraud against local voters by not fulfilling his initial statement of intent by purposely making himself absent for the specific part of the meeting when he should have cast his vote as promised on several occasions in public . Veolia are a company with an horrendous safety record and have been convicted not only in the UK courts but also worldwide fro various offences including release of toxic gas into local environment , death of employees , illegal storing of dangerous chemicals leading to a fire that shut a major uk motorway . The whole precess has been a joke from start to finish
ken2
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 01:32 AMMaybe Tower Hamlets Council had more common sense in their dealings with this company. "In February 2011 the East London council of Tower Hamlets voted to review its position with Veolia and place no further contracts with it, after claiming that Veolia's work for the Israeli government assisted the "continued oppression of the Palestinian people".
Nigel B
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 05:58 PMIt will burn rubbish, people put all sorts of things in their bins. If that is what is being burnt, I would not like to live near to it. Which parties in the Council passed this smog pumping burner?
Chris R
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 02:30 PMWhere do some people get their information from!! Mark Paul, you are obvioiusly a man of very little intelligence, and love to frighten people with your un-educated waffle!!! I am all for this new incinerator, as it will be cheeper to run than it is to land fill, it will produce electricity and also jobs, the filtration system on this incinerator will be super filtered thus no pisonous fumes or odours.... Get it built, we need to look to the future, this incinerator will only burn the stuff that can not be recycled.....
Cappy
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 01:03 PMIs there a particular reason that Mark Paul thinks we should care more about citizens in Rothwell and Garforth than those people who live nearby to the incinerator?
luvmeteam
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 12:16 PMPoor old cross green gets the rough end of the stick everytime,would not be suprised to learn of the gipsy caravan park earmarked as well, and i don,t live anywhere near cross green out of interest.
ELLAND BACK
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 11:48 AMive got a feeling ken bates has something to do with this, ive no proof but its just niggling at me
Mark Paul
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 10:51 AMThis is not the councils incinerator to burn Leeds citizens rubbish. This is a private incinerator that will burn toxic waste from all over the world and create profit for a private company. Much of this rubbish has been deemed to dangerous to burn anywhere else and the plans for this incinerator have been rejected all over the country, however the developers have struck the jackpot in Leeds, both apathy and stupidity of the residents means that what is burnt here will be blown across Rothwell and Garforth. Increases in birth defects, cancers asthma all many illnesses follow suit.
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