At its meeting on 30 October 2012 North Yorkshire County Council’s Planning and Regulatory Functions Committee considered the report of the Corporate Director, Business and Environmental Services on AmeyCespa’s planning application for Allerton Waste Recovery Park.
After a long meeting during which the committee heard representations from members of the public, local opposition groups and AmeyCespa, they agreed with the report’s recommendation and voted to approve the application.
They also agreed with the report’s recommendation that the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government should be consulted on the application and the committee’s decision. It will now be up to the Secretary of State to decide the next stage for the application.
North Yorkshire County Councillor Chris Metcalfe, Executive Member for waste disposal, said:
Today’s decision means that the county council can begin to finalise the long term waste management contract with AmeyCespa whilst the Secretary of State is reviewing the application.
It marks the start of us being able to move away from landfilling our waste to a sustainable long term solution which generates green electricity.
The contract with AmeyCespa will give us over £240million in savings on the costs of doing nothing different with our waste – welcome news indeed in this time of severely reduced council budgets.
Andrew Jones MP commenting on the decision said:
The decision announced today by the County Council is very disappointing and although it is a setback for the campaign against the proposed incinerator, it is by no means the end of it.
The incinerator is simply unnecessary – the plant will be both too big for the amount of waste the County generates and will use technology which has already been superceded. In my view, the alternatives have not been fully researched by North Yorkshire County Council.
Recycling is increasing in North Yorkshire and particularly in the Harrogate district. This is a good thing. The County Council has not taken this into account. More recycling means that there will be no need for drastic means of waste disposal such as incineration.
There are new methods of separating waste for recycling and waste is now viewed very much as a resource. The answer to our waste problem is not simply to burn it.
I commend the efforts of everyone who fought for a different decision. This is not the end of the campaign. With neighbouring MP, Nigel Adams, I have asked the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to call this application in for a decision as it is technically complex and has wide-ranging implications for our region. I hope that the Secretary of State will decide to do so.
In considering the application I hope he will give due weight to those principled, well-reasoned and intelligent arguments advanced by those who wanted the council to stop the incinerator in its tracks today.
