A frequent contributor has called my attention to the following Paul Connett video clips:
Could these excellent up-to-date Coventry presentations be embedded nationally on the UKWIN site??
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kf8lew6jFY
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJK8m4VYZic
Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyMc6Yluig8
Please watch the videos, and leave your comments below…
People 2 – Incinerators 0
Those scores in more detail:
Oxfordshire County Council refused planning permission for an incinerator in Ardley by 9 votes to 4, and then they refused planning permission for an incinerator in Sutton Courtenay by 7 votes to 6
The Oxford Mail is reporting that Oxfordshire’s “Waste strategy in tatters as councillors veto incinerator plans“:
Oxfordshire County Council’s £100m plans for a waste incinerator were dealt a bodyblow today when its own planning committee rejected schemes to build at both Ardley and Sutton Courtenay.
The committee had been recommended to approve both planning applications by Viridor at Ardley — the council’s chosen tenderer — and a rival bid by Waste Recycling Group for Sutton Courtenay.
But they threw out both applications on the grounds that they conflict with district council Local Plans for both areas, which aim to protect the open countryside from “large permanent buildings”.
Quotable quotes:
Jon O’Neill, chairman of Ardley Against the Incinerator, thanked councillors who voted against giving planning permission. He said:
It was good to see councillors making their own decisions and not being whipped along party political lines. There may be a chance for Viridor to appeal against this decision and we will be ready to fight.
UKWIN member Callum MacKenzie, a spokesman for Sutton Courtenay against the Incinerator, said:
This is great news for Oxfordshire. WRG could not convince councillors that they would properly seal off any hazardous waste before it was transported for disposal and I think that tipped the balance in our favour. The vote was too close for comfort, but I think WRG would be foolish to persist with their plans now.
Fellow Sutton Courtenay campaigner Edmund Rowley-Williams added:
This is very good news, but we remain on our guard in case WRG try to reverse the process.
John Tanner, Labour county councillor for Isis, said:
Putting waste in holes in the ground is the worst thing you can do. The next worst thing you can do is set fire to it. Cherwell district council’s objection to the Ardley incinerator is that there would be a permanent industrial building in rural open land. This is yesterday’s technology and nobody knows how much waste will be created over the next 25 years.
Localgov.co.uk is reporting:
Oxfordshire CC has rejected a planning application from Viridor for a 300,000t a year energy-from-waste facility, just weeks after selecting the company as preferred bidder to build an incinerator.
The council’s planning and regulation committee this week refused both Viridor’s application for a facility at Ardley, and Waste Recycling Group (WRG)’s application for a 220,000t plant at Sutton Courtenay. In September, WRG lost out to Viridor as preferred bidder to treat the county’s waste.
Wildlife fears over incinerator plans
I am so busy with the inquiry and sorting through the information released by Nottinghamshire County Council following last week’s High Court decision (see “People power” victory and Revealed: What Veolia wanted to keep secret and the Nottingham Evening Post editorial: Ruling upholds our democratic right that I am breaking with tradition and reprinting an article from another website:
Wildlife fears over incinerator plans
Published Date: 06 October 2009
By Helen LambourneCONTROVERSIAL plans to build a waste incinerator in Rainworth could be halted if the site is made a protection area for nightjars and woodlarks, it has emerged. A public inquiry into proposals by Veolia Environmental Services for the incinerator at the former Rufford Colliery got under way yesterday, held by Government-appointed inspector Rupert Grantham.
But immediately, a three-month adjournment on the ecological issues due to be considered was called for by Veolia –– saying it was seeking information from Natural England about whether the site might be designated a Special Protection Area (SPA).
The move could lead the inspector to put the whole inquiry on hold after it emerged the status could be a ‘showstopper’ for plans to build the incinerator on that site.
Paul Brown, representing Nottinghamshire County Council, told the inquiry the authority could change its support for the incinerator if the site was made an SPA.
He said: “If it transpires the SPA is a showstopper, everything we do in the next two or three weeks could be a complete waste of time.
“It would be a very difficult hurdle to overcome. The county council would have to review its position.”Rhodri Price Lewis, for Veolia, said the company had been trying to gain answers from Natural England about whether the SPA was being considered for the last three weeks, but had got no answer.
But he said the public body had no remaining objections to the incinerator plans.
Janice Bradley, of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, said the organisation had raised concerns about the impact of the incinerator on nightjars for a long time.
She said a recent ruling had found an area should be treated as a potential SPA if data about the birds there would qualify it — even if Natural England had not classified it as such.
Shlomo Dowen, from campaign group People Against Incineration (PAIN), said he had spoken to a representative from Natural England yesterday.
He told the inspector: “The first thing that was made clear was that you as inspector have the authority and should you decide that the site could qualify as an SPA, then Natural England would of course object to the application.”
Mr Grantham adjourned the inquiry yesterday until tomorrow (Thursday) morning while the parties try to gain the written views of Natural England.
He will then decide whether some or all of the hearing should be adjourned for three months.
Brave anti-incineration campaigners from in and around Hull, who refused to give up on their dream of a Hull without incineration despite the granting of both planning permission and an environmental permit (or two!) have been rewarded as funding (and waste) has failed to materialise! Continue reading »
Friends of the Earth press release
For immediate release: Thursday 1 October 2009
The giant waste company Veolia Environmental Services today lost its High Court
bid to keep details of its £850 million waste management contract with
Nottinghamshire County Council secret from local residents [1]. This is the
third time that information about the French-owned company’s activities has been
forcibly made public [2]. The judgment sets an important precedent for local
authorities with immediate impacts for other councils around the country [3].
Veolia asked for the High Court to judicially review Nottinghamshire County
Council’s decision to release details of its multi-million pound waste
management contract – including invoices paid by the local council – following a
request by local resident and waste campaigner Shlomo Dowen, of People Against
Incineration (PAIN), under local authority audit laws [4]. Veolia had previously
obtained an interim injunction to prevent publication until the case could be
heard.
Mr Dowen was represented by lawyers from Friends of the Earth’s Rights and
Justice Centre at the Judicial Review, which was heard last month.
Information in the contract and the invoices will show how much money Veolia is
charging the local council for each method of waste treatment, such as landfill,
incineration, recycling and composting, and will help show whether or not the
local authority is getting value for money.
Shlomo Dowen said:
“This decision, which is clearly the right one, strengthens our right to see how
public money is spent buying public services from large corporations. I am not
convinced that Nottinghamshire Council is getting best value for our money – now
I will be in a better position to investigate those suspicions.”
Friends of the Earth’s Head of Legal and Mr Dowen’s lawyer, Phil Michaels, said:
“This is a tremendous victory for freedom of information and the residents of
Nottingham. Veolia must come clean about its waste disposal contract and allow
council tax payers to see how vast sums of their money is being spent, and how
their rubbish is being disposed of.”
Mr Dowen has already accessed some information from the Council and has asked
the District Auditor to investigate amount of money it is charging
Nottinghamshire’s County Council in respect of landfill tax.
Veolia is also embroiled in another controversy with Nottinghamshire County
Council over its plans to build an incinerator on a former colliery site in
Sherwood Forest. The company claims that local waste levels are expected to rise
significantly in the coming years – a fact hotly disputed by PAIN, who point to
evidence that Nottinghamshire’s waste levels have actually fallen [5].
Veolia has said it will not be appealing today’s judgement.
ENDS
Notes:
1. The Judicial Review was heard on 25-26 August 2009
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/secret_waste_contract_25082009.html
.
2. In the past two years information about Veolia’s waste contracts with local
authorities has twice been ordered to be released following complaints to the
Information Commissioner. In April last year, following a formal complaint by a
Friends of the Earth local group, the Information Commissioner ordered South
Down Waste Services, a subsidiary of Veolia, to release information about its
Newhaven incinerator. He ruled that a private waste management company that has
a contract with a local authority is required to make environmental information
public because it is classed the same as a public authority under the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/waste_companies_must_open_02042008.
html. In another case in November 2007, the Information Commissioner ordered
East Sussex County Council to make public its £1 billion integrated waste
management contract with Veolia despite protestations that the contract was
commercially confidential.
http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/decisionnotices/2007/fer_0099394.pdf
3. Friends of the Earth is aware of a number of authorities that have received
similar requests for information and are waiting for the outcome of this case
before deciding whether to release the information requested by local electors.
4. Mr Dowen asked for the information under the Audit Commission Act 1998.
That law provides members of the public with legal rights of access to all
contracts, books, bills, and accounts of a public authority for a 20 working day
period each year so that they can participate in the local audit process. This
is a unique right of access to information that goes considerably beyond rights
of access under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 – in large part because it
is not subject to any commercial confidentiality exemptions.
5. Hearings for the Public Inquiry into the proposed Sherwood Forest
Incinerator will begin on 6th October 2009 in Rainworth, near Mansfield. These
hearings are expected to last for three weeks. People against Incineration is
joined at the Inquiry by Newark and Sherwood District Council and Notts Wildlife
Trust who also oppose Veolia’s incinerator plans.
6. Friends of the Earth believes the environment is for everyone. We want a
healthy planet and a good quality of life for all those who live on it. We
inspire people to act together for a thriving environment. For further
information visit www.foe.co.uk.
| Website crafted by Ben of dowen.me.uk and Josh Dowen, Only Solutions LLP © 2011 UK Without Incineration Network | We wish to thank famfamfam.com and OpenClipArt.org for many of the images we have used | Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha |
