Efforts to educate Bristol Councillors are begining to pay off as increasing numbers vote to exclude incineration from waste plans.

On Tuesday (9th September 2008) Bristol City Councillors passed a recommendation to Cabinet, that reads:

Council notes that the majority of Council Members are opposed to a ‘feed-the-beast’ mass-burn incinerator

A Liberal Democrat amendment to rule out incineration altogether was narrowly defeated. The amendment stated:

The Council notes with concern the current West of England Waste Strategy, and the controversy surrounding it within Bristol and the rest of the West of England. Council recognises that the decisions made in the next couple of years could determine how Bristol treats its waste for the next quarter of a century. Accordingly Council feels that genuine cross-party support for the Strategy across the WoE is important, and regrets to date that this has not been reached, in particular we note the widespread concern over incineration and would wish to make clear that this is not regarded as an acceptable option.

Local campaigners also report that some other ‘useful amendments’ were passed, with cross-party support from all parties, although these are framed as recommendations meaning they are not binding on Bristol Council’s Cabinet.

According to local media reports:

Opposition Liberal Democrat councillors failed by 28 votes to 34 to get the authority to drop [incineration from their list of waste management options]…The 70-member council’s 13 Tories expressed grave concerns about an incinerator. And their amendment to beef up scrutiny of Labour’s decisions on waste was accepted by the ruling party. In the end, Conservative councillor, Spud Murphy, of Avonmouth, was one of just two councillors to abstain in the vote on the Lib Dems’ motion. The 31-member Lib Dem group – which favours [cheaper and cleaner] alternatives for dealing with the West’s waste – had four members absent from the vote.

A small, all-party working group will now be established to investigate how Bristol can achieve greater cuts in the amount of waste households throw out.

A webcast of meeting (Full Council 9/9/08) is available at:
http://www.bristol.public-i.tv/site/webcasts.php?l=en_GB and campaign details can be found on the Bristol Against Mass Burn Incineration (BAMBI) website.