CAMPAIGNERS have accused Hazel Blears of ignoring climate change and energy issues in allowing an expansion of Nottingham’s Eastcroft incinerator.

The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has agreed an extra 100,000 tonnes a year can be burned at London Road.

The decision – first reported in yesterday’s Evening Post – comes after a public inquiry in September, when applicants Waste Recycling Group (WRG) appealed against Nottingham City Council’s refusal of the proposals.

Nottingham Against Incineration and Landfill (Nail), which led the campaign to prevent the expansion, hit out at Ms Blears’ decision.

Nail chairman Jon Beresford said: “The Government has given the go-ahead on the basis that the expansion supports its Climate Change and Energy Policies. This demonstrates what utter shambles the Government’s policy is in.

“The incinerator will help us tackle climate change no more than a third runway at Heathrow or building more coal-fired power stations.

“We should be reducing, reusing and recycling our waste to save the earth’s resources and reduce global warming gases, not incinerating waste to increase these gases.”

Nigel Lee, of Nottingham Friends of the Earth, said it appeared the decision had ignored calculations presented to the inquiry which argued the level of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of the expansion would be no less than if the waste went to landfill.

He said if the Government was serious about renewable energy, a specific condition should have been imposed obliging WRG to connect the additional energy to the district heating system.

“We would have expected the Secretary of State would look at these arguments.”

And Ian Pickering, chairman of residents’ group Forest Fields Improvement Association, said: “They have breached emission levels no end of times and been fined for it.

“I think larger quantities of toxic materials are going to incineration and then floating over places like Sneinton and falling.”

Decision officer Julian Pitt said Ms Blears considered incineration would divert waste from landfill.

He said she concluded it was in line with policies encouraging the generation of renewable energy, including “the potential for some of the energy generated to be used via the Nottingham District Heating System”.

He added that Ms Blears believed the incinerator – or energy from waste facility – “would not present any material risk to the health of the local population” and would not have a harmful effect on the regeneration the city.

Robert Asquith, planning and estates manager for WRG, said the company was delighted with the decision.

“This has been a long planning process and we have worked hard to deliver the best possible scheme for Nottingham,” he said.

“This decision will allow Eastcroft to deal with an extra 100,000 tonnes of waste every year, significantly reducing our reliance on landfill.”

The decision means WRG can build a third line of incineration, and increases the total capacity to 250,000 tonnes of waste a year.

Nottingham City Council leader Coun Jon Collins said: “We are very disappointed by the decision and will be looking at what steps we can take to challenge it. We will be keen to sit down with campaigners to look at all the options.”

jon.robinson@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk