Town council steps up campaign to fight incinerator plans

Westbury Town Council is stepping up its campaign against the controversial waste incinerator planned for the town.

At an extraordinary meeting on Monday evening (12th January), councillors agreed to draw up a new strategy to continue their fight against the facility, arguing that it is still not too late to halt the project – despite limited work already beginning on site.

The meeting followed a decision by Wiltshire Council in December not to terminate its long-term waste contract with the Hills Group, a shareholder in the incinerator project. Cancelling the contract would cost the council nearly £20 million, according to the Liberal Democrat leadership. Town councillors have argued that the contract is central to the financial viability of the incinerator.

Concerns

A detailed report prepared by Cllrs Matt Dean and Mike Sutton set out concerns about both the environmental and financial implications of Wiltshire Council’s decision.

“Westbury Town Council and the majority of residents are totally opposed to the proposed incinerator and extremely disappointed by Wiltshire Council’s decision to proceed with the contract because of punitive cancellation clauses,” the report stated. “This decision is challenged, and this meeting has been held to determine the council’s appropriate response.”

Following debate, councillors agreed that the council’s Incinerator Monitoring Group will work on a formal proposal to present to Wiltshire Council outlining Westbury’s position.

Now or never

Cllr Matt Dean described the meeting as a pivotal moment in the long-running campaign.

“It’s now or never,” he said. “The Lib Dem administration shouldn’t be beholden to the mistakes of the past – now is the time for a fresh start… If we don’t get changes to the budget, the battle will be lost.”

He said Wiltshire Council’s contracts with the nearby Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plant underpin the incinerator financially and should be examined.

Desperate

“To make this facility viable, they need to raise finance; they need to demonstrate that they have got customers for the plant,” he said. “And they are desperate, desperate to get Wiltshire Council to sign up to use the waste from the MTB to go into the incinerator. And if they have that commitment, that will to go a long way to make the plant viable.

“So I am absolutely shocked and appalled that the cabinet have been looking at their next contract which Northacre MTB and they are suggesting that instead of that plant being closed at the end of its contract in 2033, that they extend the contract to 2038.

“Why should our residents have another five years of the smell and the inconvenience and a by-product of having that contract extended will enable the incinerator to go ahead?”

Cllr Mark Bailey criticised Wiltshire Council’s stance, saying, “It would appear that despite a change in ownership, Wiltshire Council is pursuing the same policy of effectively riding roughshod over the people of Westbury,” he said. “It seems odd that Wiltshire Council cares more about money than the wellbeing of its residents. We must do our utmost to challenge this.”

Cllr Mike Sutton added that the quoted £19.8 million termination cost was a “red herring” that “can and should be challenged.”

Cllr Gordon King, part of Wiltshire Council’s Liberal Democrat group, said he opposed the incinerator but that the financial reality left the administration with “no choice.”

He said the previous Conservative administration had been “irresponsible and incompetent” in giving all waste contracts to one company. “There is no spare money anywhere,” he added.

Other councillors echoed the shared frustration. Mayor Cllr Jane Russ said, “We’re between a rock and a hard place, but we are all unified in our desire to see this incinerator not built. The plan is to put together a detailed draft from our discussions this evening.”

The incinerator, approved by the government’s Planning Inspectorate in 2023 after Wiltshire Council initially rejected it, has long drawn criticism from local residents who fear increased pollution, traffic, and damage to Westbury’s air quality. Town councillors hope they have reached a turning point in a campaign they believe is “far from over.”