WESTBURY Town Council has objected to an updated application for an Advanced Thermal Treatment (ATT) plant using gasification in the town.
Northacre Renewable Energy, part of Hills Waste, has resubmitted new plans for the plant, claiming a ‘new and improved’ application with ‘significant benefits compared to existing plans.’ During a full town council meeting on Monday 5th November, residents of Westbury took to the public forum once again to ask for support from Westbury Town Council in objecting to the new application.
The council voted to object to the new application on the same grounds as the last application, with extra objections.
The new objections include:
• It goes against the Health and Safety Act 1974 Chapter 37 Part 1 Subparagraph B & C, “No persons should be harmed by the release of noxious substances into the atmosphere.”
• The application in which this is based was made in 2014; attitudes and approaches to recycling have changed remarkably during this time, the need to dispose of, particularly plastic, waste will change substantially in the next few years.
• The plan goes against national framework policy 2, alongside core strategy 42, 57 and 64.
• There was no pre-application process where the public were consulted before the application was made.
The town council says it still upholds its previous objections which include the following:-
• The height of the chimney is obtrusive; plans contradict the Government’s environmental aims e.g Air Quality Plan for N02 in the UK (2017) which increased traffic will make the air quality worse in an area already suffering from poor air quality.
• The 25 year environment plan DEFRA Feb 2018 which sets out to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042 – using it for fuel works against this claim.
• No public health assessment has been undertaken, also concerns about emissions from the site and proximity to residential areas and the town; no plume grounding diagram and its contrast to Core Policy 55.
The consultation period for the application ended on Friday 16th November, and a decision is due to be made on Monday 7th January.
If Wiltshire Council approve the revised application, The Secretary of State could ‘call in’ the application to support or overrule the decision.
Speaking about the latest application, MP for Westbury, Dr Andrew Murrison said, “The response means that waste could come from a wide, undefined area, not just Wiltshire. You will see that the application, if successful, would add considerably to heavy vehicles through Westbury, straight through an existing Air Quality Management Area of the sort that BANES is currently addressing in Bath by effectively banning heavy vehicles. Furthermore, there does not appear to be a limit on movements, simply an expectation of one. I oppose the application.”
More opposition – see page 29
