The protest group fighting plans to develop a multi-million pound incinerator in North Yorkshire claim County Councillors have been told they can’t declare whether or not they are in favour of the controversial scheme.
DISC – the Dalton Incinerator Steering Committee – had written to all 72 county councillors asking them to state where they stood on the issue, before next month’s County Council elections.
But David Andrews, Chair of DISC, says he understand the Councils Assistant Chief Executive, Carole Dunn, has written to all of the members telling them that they shouldn’t “make statements that would suggest that they have already made up their minds…or may prejudice their ability to take part in future decision making on this issue.”
“The reason we are opposing plans for the incinerator is that we care about our environment and the people who live in that environment both now and for generations to come,” said Mr Andrews. “As far we we’re concerned this is not a political issue, it’s a human issue which directly involves the very people who elect the county councillors.
“I think it’s disgraceful that those councillors should now be told they aren’t allowed to support the views of the people who voted them into power. Surely their first responsibility should be to those people, not to politics.”
Mr Andrews said DISC were now calling on the Assistant Chief Executive to retract her statement and he says he believes the current law backs their decision. He said the Standards Board for England had issued legal guidance which quite clearly stated that “the fact that a councillor may have made it clear that he has a policy predisposition to favour a particular outcome in relation to a decision to which he is party does not mean that it is unlawful for him to participate in making that decision.”
“We believe the statement from the Assistant Chief Executive goes directly against that guidance, and if necessary we are prepared to take that to the local government Ombudsman,” he said. He’s also asking all members of DISC to contact their local MP to complain about what he says is “a clear abuse of the democratic process”
DISC was initially formed to fight plans to site the incinerator at Dalton near Thirsk, but has now become the protest group for residents living in villages around the three sites thought to be favoured for the development: Dalton, Allerton Quarry and Burn Airfield.
Visit the Marton cum Grafton village website and of course the DISC website for more…
This is shocking. I live near one of the other possible sites at Allerton. Our County Councillor has disqualified himself from voting because he has supported the residents in their fight against incineration. If councillors can’t express an opinion, how do we know what we’re voting for? This is not democracy. What I cannot understand is why North Yorkshire’s officers are playing such a dangerous game with our health and the economy of the whole county. This is a county that relies on tourism. Do we really want to transport 450,000 tons of waste from all corners of the county so that we can spoil the air we breathe and the countryside we live in?
Steve Wright