'Wrong on All Counts:' My Comments to the Open Floor Hearing on the Covanta Incinerator Plan for Stewartby
Yesterday I spoke at the first session of the open-floor hearings being conducted by the Infrastructure Planning Commission on the application by US waste giant Covanta Energy to build a 600,000 tonne capacity incinerator at Rookery South pit near Stewartby. As I have explained previously, I have not been involved in the Council's formal submissions to the application process being conducted by the IPC, having received a warning letter from lawyers for Covanta. They had noticed that, like so many residents of this area, I am opposed to the principle of us being established as a magnet for lorries bringing waste from areas far and wide for burning using an environmentally damaging waste technology in the form of incineration. Indeed, I have campaigned against these abominable plans since they were published, well before I became Mayor. Not wanting to place the Council at any risk, I have instead taken part in the process as an individual, and did so again at the hearing yesterday.
