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CORNWALL COUNCIL IS TRYING TO CHANGE THE RULES OF THE GAME

In a further blow to Cornwall Council’s plans to build a mass burn incinerator in St. Dennis, it has emerged that the County is seeking to alter the Regional Spatial Strategy for the South West to get round conflicts between the incinerator proposal and new regional planning policy.


The current draft regional policy states that waste management or disposal facilities should be located in towns or cities to minimise environmental impacts of transporting waste, but Cornwall County Council has chosen a rural area near the village of St. Dennis.

Commenting, Matthew Taylor said: “Rather than come forward with a waste proposal meeting regional planning guidance, it seems the County is trying to get the guidance deleted. It is as if a football referee not only took sides, but changed the rules mid-game to favour his team. This is no way to address local concern.”

The planned mass burn incinerator contravenes a number of other planning regulations. The planned incinerator contravenes other parts of the Regional Spatial Strategy, such as the ‘Proximity Principle’ which demands that waste is treated as near to its place of origin as possible – something clearly not fulfilled by a single incinerator for the whole of Cornwall. The incinerator is also contrary to the local area plan, which sets out what particular areas of land are to be used for.

Commenting, Matthew Taylor MP for Truro and St. Austell added:
“This incinerator proposal has already been damaged by Cornwall County Council’s determination to judge a planning proposal that it commissioned in the first place. These further revelations that Cornwall County Council is now seeking to alter regional policy to fit the proposal can only further deplete the public’s confidence in the County determining a planning application for its own proposal. A full, independent public inquiry into the plans is now even more clearly the only legitimate way to determine the best option for Cornwall’s future waste management.”