Statement by Liberal Democrat leader Cllr. Jeremy Hilton – Waste Incinerator Planning Refusal

 Yesterday, Gloucestershire County Council’s planning committee voted unanimously to refuse a planning application to build a £500m waste incinerator at Javelin Park, Gloucester.

Liberal Democrat leader, Cllr. Jeremy Hilton said: “I welcome the decision of the planning committee to unanimously refuse the planning application for a massive waste incinerator at Javelin Park. Liberal Democrats have opposed the project from the beginning.

“We have tried to stop this project a number of times in the last few years by proposing motions at council and formal challenges to cabinet decisions to end the project.

“On every occasion the Tories refused to listen to us. Under the reckless leadership of Mark Hawthorne the Tories just arrogantly pressed on with the waste incinerator project. They even agreed to sign a £500m contract with Urbaser Balfour Beatty ahead of the planning decision, leaving the council contractually committed to millions of pounds of costs in compensation if the project is cancelled.

“It is quite clear from the decision of the planning committee that the incinerator project should be dead. The Tories cannot be trusted to sort out alternative plans. Mark Hawthorne should apologise to the people of Gloucestershire. It is clear that we now need a new leader of the county council to take us forward into the future.”

Ends…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.