Incinerator plans will blight Northwich

The proposed Brunner Mond incineration plant in Lostock comes alongside the Bedminster plant at Lostock, the proposed RSS plant in Wincham and the proposed Covanta incinerator in Middlewich turning mid Cheshire into the Northwest’s favourite dumping ground. And this with the incinerators which will be built in Runcorn (850,000 tonnes) and Ince Marsh (600,000 tonnes). It’s not just the potential health impacts and increase in heavy traffic that should cause people concern it’s also the threat to greener methods of waste management.

Incinerators cost huge amounts of money to build on the Private Finance Initiative and are operated on long term contracts. They have to be fed. As we reduce the waste we produce we will have to either import more waste into Cheshire or burn waste that could have been recycled. So incineration threatens to undermine best waste management practice.

The ‘Sustainable’ Energy Plant at Brunner Mond is neither sustainable, eco-friendly nor green. The proposal to import a further 600,000 tonnes of waste into Cheshire for incineration is bad news for the people of the Northwich area.

Incineration is a form of waste disposal which is opposed by the Green Party. We should be concentrating our efforts on genuinely green and sustainable methods of waste management such as waste elimination, reduction, re-use and recycling. Surrey County Council has recently ditched plans for two incinerators because the amount of waste in the County is falling. If they can do that – so can we. Why do the councillors in Cheshire West and Chester Council have such low aspirations when it comes to waste management in this district? I oppose the Brunner Mond plans to build an incinerator in Northwich and support the efforts of CHAIN to stop Northwich being blighted.