Gloucestershire County Council will vigorously defend the decision to refuse planning permission for a massive waste incinerator at Javelin Park, Gloucester. This is the outcome of a debate led by Liberal Democrat Cllr. Jeremy Hilton (Kingsholm & Wotton) at the first meeting of the new county council earlier today.
On the 22nd February the Conservative administration signed a 25 year contract with Urbaser Balfour Beatty (UBB) to build a 190,000 tonnes per year waste incinerator at Javelin Park. One month later (21st March) the county council’s planning committee unanimously refused planning permission.
At today’s meeting, the county council supported an amended motion proposed by Cllr Hilton calling for the chief executive to seek robust support to defend the unanimous decision of the planning committee.
Cllr. Jeremy Hilton said: “The planning committee refused permission to build this massive waste incinerator for sound planning reasons. They were unhappy about the size of the building, which is taller than Gloucester Cathedral and its harm to the local landscape. The overbearing impact the incinerator would have on nearby residential properties. The council must vigorously defend this decision in any appeal that UBB may take in the future.”
The county council also agreed that a plan B needs to be prepared as an alternative to the waste incinerator to process the council’s household waste. A cross party working group will be immediately set up to consider alternatives to the waste incinerator.
Cllr Hilton concluded: “The council cannot stand idly by waiting for the appeal process to be concluded. We need to start working on plan B. My preferred solution would be Mechanical Biological Treatment as the cornerstone of a more environmentally and taxpayer friendly alternative. We must start working on this tomorrow.”
Ends…
Motion approved
This council notes the decision made by the recent Planning Committee to reject the planning application to build a waste incinerator at Javelin Park.
This council therefore calls on the Chief Executive to seek robust support to defend the unanimous Planning Committee decision in any appeal process that may take place in the future.
This Council should immediately establish a “Plan B” cross-party working group to consider alternatives to the current proposals for a waste incinerator at Javelin Park, to be available in the event that the council’s current contract proposal with UBB ultimately fails.