independent Cornish news and comment

MP MEETS INCINERATOR PROTEST GROUP

Local resident, Matthew Taylor MP, has met with STIG, the St Dennis Anti-Incinerator Campaign Group.


Mr Taylor has been campaigning to persuade the Council to reconsider its plans for a single large incinerator to deal with Cornwall’s waste – a concern he pressed long before it immerged that his own village was potential site.

STIG activists met with Matthew Taylor on Friday evening to discuss the proposal, and how to make their campaign effective. Liberal Democrat lead Restormel Council, the local planning authority, last week set out its own concerns about the proposal. The MP described Restormel’s intervention as ‘extremely welcome’.

Commenting, Matthew Taylor MP said:

“I have always accepted that there is a serious problem dealing with Cornwall’s waste – we can’t just dump it in landfills forever. Moreover, Government policy is pushing the County to build an incinerator. However, incineration should only be the last resort after everything has been done to minimise and recycle waste – and all other technologies have been properly examined.

“The news that Restormel Council, the local planning authority, are raising similar concerns is very welcome indeed. I will be pressing Ministers for a full public inquiry into any application for an incinerator, to test whether it really is the right technology, and if it is, whether it really has to be so large. The fact is that over the next thirty years – the working life of an incinerator - there should be more and more recycling and less and less wasteful packaging. A very large incinerator could easily turn into an expensive white elephant.

“Whilst the Government tax on landfill is putting Councillors under immense pressure to find a quick fix, locking Cornwall into a thirty year contract with Sita for incineration could end up costing Council Tax payers and the environment a fortune. At the very least, a full public inquiry would prove once and for all whether or not the Council really have yet got the right solution.