Say No To Green Lane Incinerator AKA Green Lane Eco Park

The location and impact of recycling and materials recovery facilities continues to be hotly debated. Today the BBC reported that a facility in Lancashire is receiving a stream of compliant from residents who claim the odours are making their lives seriously unpleasant.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-15864619

One local resident stated the following:

Before it was first built, there were three things they told us – it won’t be an eyesore, your property won’t be affected, and it won’t smell. Categorically all of them have been affected in a big way,” said Mr Wayne.

Do these claims sound familiar? They should, because Sky Properties push exactly the same fantastical claims.  You will also notice from the image above, that the plant in Lancashire is neither in the middle of a heavily populated residential area.. or 50metres from a children’s park.

Common sense tells us that trying to put one of these on Green Lane is ridiculous.

Many of you may already be aware, that in the last couple of weeks, Sky Properties have made an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. It amounts to an attempt to overturn the “unanimous” refusal of their application to build a waste processing and incineration facility by Salford City Council in June.

The History

It’s been almost two years since Sky started their campaign to try to dupe the community into believing that their waste site was going to be great for the area and the local residents.  In that time, they have continued to forcefully exclude any thoughts, opinions, decisions and facts presented by local residents, businesses and now the Council.

Going In The Right Direction

We are happy to report that there have been many positive developments since the refusal.  As the Bridgewater Masterplan gathers momentum we have seen a similar appeal from Anthony O’Connor (Sky’s next door neighbour) quashed, indicating that the Planning Inspectorate is aware of the issues in the area. In addition, Sky’s attempt to have the site re-included in the regional waste strategy has failed. The reasons for removing the site from the GMWDA joint development plan, have been debated at a hearing and subsequently upheld by the Inspector. The site will NOT be re-included to the regional waste plan.

What’s Going To Happen Now

Regardless of the positive developments, this fight is about to get tougher than we’ve seen so far. Our worst enemy will be complacency.  Now is the time that we need to start gathering our resources and throwing our full weight behind the Council as they defend their decision to refuse.  In the coming months, we will be working alongside the Council to help ensure that common sense prevails and that the Council’s decision is upheld.

What Do We Need To Do

We will be registering as an interested party for the appeal. This will give us the opportunity to present our information in full, so it may be assessed and used in the Inspector’s decision.  Two years is a long time and situations may have changed. Individuals and businesses may have left the area, whereas others may have move in. In some cases, we may have different community representatives and Councillors.

In the first instance we need to do the following:

• * Contact friends, family and colleagues – Notify anyone who has, is or will be affected by the outcome of the appeal.. that the appeal has arrived.
• * Contact your Councillors – Regardless of the Council rejecting the application, you need to ensure that your local Councillor is aware that the appeal has arrived, and also that you still feel strongly about the negative impact this will have on the area. Do this by email, letter or phone. You can find contact details here: http://www.salford.gov.uk/findyourcouncillors.htm
• * Keep watching for updates – We will be working with the Council to agree dates and the location for the appeal proceedings.  When we have these confirmed, we will need all hands to the pumps. Leafleting, postering and attendance at the hearing will be our top priorities.

We knew this was coming, now we have to ramp it up a notch. Stick with us and thank you for your continued support.

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Today I attended the standing room only funeral of Councillor John Cullen at St Mary’s Church in Eccles.  For those who didn’t know, John sadly passed away last week after a period of illness.

I have only known John for a short period of time, meeting him back in 2009 and subsequently working closely together with him on the Say No campaign.  In the pivotal role of Vice Chairman, John worked tirelessly for this campaign and provided strength, knowledge and guidance to assist in all of our battles and successes.  John was a kind and caring man who never failed to stand up for what he believed in. Well loved by the Council, the Community and this Campaign, John will forever hold a special place in all of our hearts and minds.

Thank you John, for everything you did for us. Thank you for your guidance. Thank you for teaching me that it’s not always the loudest man in the room who has the greatest ability to influence positive change.  You have taught us many things, not least that nice guys can win too. You are a winner and always will be.  You will be greatly missed. Rest in peace.

Back in June we posted information related to the Greater Manchester Joint Waste Plan:

http://www.greenlaneecodump.org/?p=725

Having failed to convince Salford Council of the benefits of their incinerator, Sky Properties chose to ignore the opinions of the City and started making moves to position for an appeal at the Regional and National level.  Just days after the Salford Council rejection, Sky’s consultant company, Entec sent letters in to the GMWDA http://www.gmwastedpd.co.uk/. The Green Lane Site was originally included in the regional plan as a possible site for processing waste. It was subsequently removed, as it was surplus as to requirements.

In an effort to get the site put back into the plan, Entec represented Sky at a public hearing in Stockport in late June.  Their challenge to the removal of the site from the plan, centered around capacity. They believed the the GMGU (Greater Manchester Geology Unit) had got their “figures wrong” and that there would be an shortfall in capacity should Green Lane not be used for waste. The opposing arguements were debated between the GMGU team and Entec resulting in GMGU offering a “you show me your figures, I’ll show you mine” exchange. After a short recess, they returned to the hearing where Entec conceded that they had misunderstood some of the figures and that the GMGU were right.

This week, the GMWDA released the proposed changes to the plan that were made as a result of the hearings. We are happy to say that re-inclusion of the Sky site in the regional plan has NOT been suggested. You can find more details at the GMWDA site linked above.  We have been in contact with and had confirmation from the GMWDA, that they have NO plans to re-include it in the regional strategy.

This, however, is not the end of the matter. The Inspector still has to assess all of the information presented at the hearing and make his final decision. This is likely to take several months as some other issues are being readdressed around the Rochdale area.

The failure to get the site earmarked for inclusion in the regional strategy plan, does not bode well for the Sky appeal.  We continue to add common sense ammunition to our appeal fighting armoury each and every day.

The Energos Plant in the Isle of Wight, just can’t seem to stay within those legal emission limits.  This time it’s Mercury.

At the June Salford Council meeting where the Sky Properties incinerator plan was rejected, a representative from Energos vehemently defended their technology. They continue to refuse to acknowledge that the plant is in fact an incinerator, although defined and classified under both UK and EU law as.. “an incinerator”.  During the debate, they likened their plant to a Formula 1 Racing Car, claiming that this was a world away from a traditional incinerator which was much like a normal run of the mill family car.  I don’t about you, but I’d rather not wrap my lips around the exhaust of either.

Just two months before extolling the virtues of their space age racing car of a waste burner, their only UK operational plant was still having problems with emission breaches.  The public face and statements of Energos, clearly don’t match up with the facts and figures provided by the Environment Agency. A report showed the following:

Mercury Emission Test (16/03/11 at 09:58 hrs)

Location: Monitoring Point A1 site chimney
Emission Source: Chimney Emissions
Substances(s) potentially released: Mercury
Analysis sample release rate: 0.289mg/m3.

 The legally allowed limit for Mercury release is 0.05mg/m3.  This test showed that the plant was released almost 6 times the legally allowed limit. Energos once again have proved themselves less than competent to keep their facilities within safe limits.

In other news earlier this year, the Isle of Wight Council have decided to reduce their reliance on the Energos plant. They consider it wholly unreliable and want to reduce their dependence on it. Increasing recycling would be one way to counteract the impact of the fault gasifier:

http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/councils/isle-of-wight-to-reduce-dependence-on-2018unreliable2019-gasifier

The chips continue to stack up against the possibility of a successful appeal for Sky.  We’re still here, still waiting and ready to fight it when it comes.

  Sky Properties will be attending a meeting by the authority in charge of creating the joint waste strategy for Greater Manchester on Tuesday 28th June. Two weeks after Salford Council’s refusal of their proposal, they have ignored the decision and have begun to position for an appeal. You can find two documents submitted by their consultant (Entec) here: http://www.gmwastedpd.co.uk/doclib.html

The Green Lane Site was removed from the regional plan in July 2010. The site is neither suitable or required. There may even in fact be an over capacity in the region to process waste as Sky plans too. As we have always believed, Sky will need to source waste for their incinerator from outside of the area. Not only outside the local area, but outsid ethe region! If there is already enough capacity to deal with regional waste, where will their waste come from?  Hey, why not ship it in from Europe?

They are essentially trying to get the Green Lane site re-included into the regional waste plan. You can send your thoughts and objections here:
“Mrs. Blackston can be contacted by email via natalie.blackston@urbanvision.org.uk or by telephoning 0161 604 7791″

Please do.