Calls for low emissions zone in Westbury in bid to stop incinerator

A LOCAL man is calling on Wiltshire Council to instate an Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) in Westbury as part of the fight against plans to build a controversial energy from waste incinerator in the town.

The local resident, who is a healthcare professional and wishes to remain anonymous said, “As Westbury is already an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA), it would be quite reasonable to insist that Westbury become a ULEZ zone (like Bath, who are already diverting all their heavy goods traffic through Westbury) and/or additionally insist that all heavy good vehicles delivering the waste to the incinerator are either 100% electric or hydrogen powered.

“If this makes the incinerator less, or entirely commercially unviable, then so be it. These steps may just prove the financial deterrent that prevents the project going ahead. If this makes the incinerator less, or entirely commercially unviable, then so be it.”

Wiltshire Council has previously said that it currently has no plans to establish a CAZ in Westbury, and instead they are awaiting results of the National Highways’ north-south connectivity study, which looks at all major and strategic routes that provide connectivity from the M4 corridor to the south coast, including the A350 (Westbury) and the A36 (Bath past Warminster and through Salisbury).

Wiltshire Council had previously declared Westbury as an AQMA back in November 2001 for exceeding annual average nitrogen dioxide levels due to air pollution from high volumes of traffic in Warminster Road and Haynes Road, which are often using the A350 key route.

The local resident had also previously written to the Planning Inspectorate in March with concerns that emissions generated from the incinerator would negatively affect the health of nearby residents and students at Fairfield Farm College in Dilton Marsh.

In a letter responding to these concerns, the Planning Inspectorate have said that an air emissions management plan should be created by Wiltshire Council.

They say, “The decision [to approve the incinerator] was approved subject to conditions. In the decision letter’s schedule of conditions (No 22) it is stated for example that ‘Prior to the receipt of the first waste for testing and commissioning, an air emissions management plan shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority’.”

The local resident said in response, “The conclusion I take from it would be that the Planning Inspectorate deferred the issue of air quality responsibility wholly to Wiltshire Council, and the council has the sole authority to put in place its requirements for schedule 22 to be met, and I would like to propose that Wiltshire Council quite properly tighten their requirements for that condition to be met.”