Planning Committee Consideration Delayed Further

In following up a request to the full Council on 7 April, all the candidates in the local elections were requested to support the call for a fresh analysis of the alternatives to incineration.

SCAI also had a delegation outside County Hall for the first meeting of the new Council on 16 June to encourage them to take the opportunity of their being a new council, to look afresh at the alternatives, before making a decision. .

Ed Vaizey MP also reiterated his support for this during the campaign and is writing on those lines to County Council. David Cameron at the “Cameron Direct” event in Abingdon, stated that whilst it was a decision for the County Council, that the latter had to be confident that there weren’t alternatives, “before they take the final decision”.
The new Sutton Courtenay & Harwell County Councillor Stewart Lilly has also made the incinerator proposal his top priority and stated that:

Effective recycling of waste is right: These current proposals are just wrong! I will ensure that full & thorough examinations of all the alternatives are properly considered.

A NEW WRG APPLICATION!
Shortly before the election, WRG announced that they would be submitting an amended application in July. This is to be for a smaller incinerator to burn 220,000 tonnes a year which would also be restricted to Oxfordshire’s waste. The size and design of the building however, is to remain the same!

We await further details and whilst it shows that the proposal is not immutable, it fails to acknowledge that the real public concern is incineration itself. It would seem to us, that it would not be possible to guarantee that the project would not subsequently expand with “project creep” or that waste would not be brought in from outside the county, if it proved commercially necessary.

Additionally:

a. A subsequent SCAI request to have the application withdrawn has been refused by OCC.
b. The fact that the process is being run by the County Council on “saved policies” rather than an up to date Waste and Minerals Policy, is being raised with the Secretary of State.
c. Pressure is also being exerted to ensure that the OCC Planning Application process and the Environmental Permit Application with the Environment Agency, are run in tandem in line with Government Guidance. Up to now they have not.
d. Unlike in the current applications, we have asked that there is a consistent description of the scheme in both applications.

The amended application will however, necessitate a fresh public consultation and we have asked for longer than the minimum 21 days. It also means that anyway the earliest that the application could be considered by the Planning Committees is 14 Sep, but even that seems highly unlikely and 19 Oct or 23 Nov seem more realistic.

This does however, give us more time to build the petition and persuade the new Council to commission a detailed analysis of the alternatives, the cost implications, the respective health risks and environmental impacts, so that the full council could take an informed decision on which option to take in disposing of Oxfordshire’s waste.

1. Alternatives.
The pressure on the County Council to commission a fresh analysis of the alternatives to incineration was maintained with a dignified demonstration at County Hall for the first meeting of the new Council on June 16th. See http://viewer.zmags.com/showmag.php?mid=wfgrpr#/page4/ (See page 5).

We still await an answer to our request in the question to the full Council on 7 April that they commission an independent analysis of the alternatives before taking a final decision.

For interest the new Cabinet Member responsible for waste disposal with the title of “Member for Growth and Infrastructure” is Cllr Ian Hudspeth, who took over from Roger Belson. See:
http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wps/portal/publicsite/doitonline/finditonline/councillorscommittees?cllr=2423&page=aboutyourcouncil.councillors.detail

The new Planning Committee is listed at:
http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wps/portal/publicsite/doitonline/finditonline/councillorscommittees?attrvalue=1&page=aboutyourcouncil.committees.detail

2. Fund-raising.
We will need to raise pledges for a large sum to underwrite a Judicial Review, should that become necessary. We have made a very good start, but any volunteers to help raise these underwriting pledges, which will only be necessary in the event of a decision going against us, as well as funds for ongoing costs, would be a welcome addition to our greatly growing strength in other fields.

3. Background Work.
Whilst awaiting the amended WRG application a great deal of work is going on in the background. This includes discussions with politicians and the Environment Agency; research into: the technical, financial and scientific justifications for the proposal, the detail of the alternatives to incineration adopted by other councils, the political processes undertaken by the County Council, the paucity of public consultation, the predicted waste flow, as well as the preparations for a “Call In” by the Secretary of State and taking the application to a Judicial Review if that proves necessary.

Anyone who would like to help in any of the research and particularly in the financial analysis, please contact David Mckenzie.

3. Petition.
The petition is ongoing.

4. Environment Permit Application.
In the meantime the Environment Agency has issued a press release stating that they are seeking clarification on a number of issues and have particularly asked for the air quality assessment to be amended to take into account additional factors, including the potential impact that the cooling towers at Didcot Power Station may have on emissions from the plant.

This was followed by an article in Wednesday’s Abingdon Herald which is not online, but gives an opportunity for letters to raise the mistakes and omissions in WRG’s applications.

5. Oxford Mail.
On 8 July the Oxford Mail highlighted the point at:
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/yourtown/bicester/4482183.Oxfordshire_waste_incinerator_decision_to_go_to_Government/?ref=eb#show, that the proposed incinerator at Ardley could be decided by a Minister.

This is in line with our own “Call In” preparations, but gives the opportunity for comment and letters.

Action: Please comment on-line and write letters expressing your own concerns. These are important if we are to maintain journalists interest in our campaign. In this please also consider mentioning that it would be better if OCC commissioned a review of the alternatives, rather than expose taxpayers to the additional cost of a “Call In” by the Secretary of State or indeed a Judicial Review.

6. General.
Thanks again to all those who are spending so much of their time fighting this campaign.

We have solid grounds on a wide range of issues to defeat this proposal. We will be asking for specific volunteers and support in the build up to the fresh public consultation which will follow the submission of the amended WRG application. Once again we will need to get as many well founded letters of objections to the OCC and to individual councillors as possible and raise the numbers on the petitions.

The Council have confirmed that the fresh application is not expected to go to the Planning Committee before 19 October, but there is a great deal to be done in addressing the OCC processes, the financial implications, the alternatives and the environmental impacts, amongst other issues, whilst at the same time widening support and increasing signatures on the petition. Do ask yourself what you can do to help and let us know! As a start please ask your own Councillor and those on the Planning Committee to raise the desirability of OCC commissioning an independent analysis of the alternatives, so the Council can take an informed decision on which to adopt in addressing the County’s waste disposal requirements.

Your Councillor’s details can be found at:
http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wps/portal/publicsite/doitonline/finditonline/councillorscommittees?page=aboutyourcouncil.councillors.

Public Meeting. Finally a “heads up” that a Public Meeting is being planned for late Sep, possibly on Friday 25 Sep in Sutton Courtenay Village Hall, post the fresh WRG application and prior to the Planning Committee consideration.

Other activities are also being planned to mark the first year of the campaign. Details later.

Have a good Summer holiday, but don’t forget that it is up to all of us to make our concerns felt, where it matters!