Andrew Murrison lobbies fellow MPs in fight against incinerators

LOCAL MP, Andrew Murrison, is marshalling his MP colleagues in Parliament, who are also threatened with waste incinerators in their constituencies, to add weight to his call for a moratorium on incinerators, to suspend or limit their construction. The local MP has also again requested a meeting with the Environment Secretary to discuss the issue.

The action follows the decision by the Government-appointed planning inspector to allow the appeal by Northacre Renewable Energy Ltd. (NREL) against the refusal of its application for a £200million incinerator in Westbury by Wiltshire Council.

The local MP wrote to Environment Secretary, Thérèse Coffey, in February and has now re-stated his request for a meeting. He plans to discuss a possible solution – a tax on waste incineration similar to the existing landfill tax, that will undermine the incinerator business model and encourage more responsible use of waste through replacement, reuse and recycling in accordance with the accepted waste hierarchy.

Andrew Murrison said, “It makes no sense to tax putting waste in the ground if you’re not taxing the consignment of waste to the atmosphere. I’m determined to do all I can to stop NREL’s unwanted, unnecessary imposition on Westbury.”

According to NREL, the incinerator represents, “A £200million pound investment in Wiltshire, creating secure, low carbon energy and providing employment. It will create a sustainable solution for waste from households and businesses in Wiltshire and the surrounding region.”

In the letter, the MP says, “Not only is this incinerator unwanted, the building of more such EfW facilities is incompatible with our national environmental targets. I therefore urge the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs to enact a moratorium on the construction of incinerators, or, at the very least, establish a firmer national framework to limit incineration inflation.

“A moratorium is needed because the current national planning framework is not serving Defra’s stated aims [to halve residual waste by 2042). To meet the 2042 target set by Defra, however, we need to reduce our capacity to 13.9 million tonnes per annum. We are therefore likely to be 8.5 million tonnes over capacity by our target date.

“My constituents strongly oppose this incinerator and it conflicts with the Government’s green agenda. I urge Defra to put in place a moratorium on the construction of future so-called EfW facilities or at least strengthen the framework to limit their construction.”

You can read Murrison’s letter in full by visiting his website at www.andrewmurrison.co.uk