CAMPAIGNERS have reacted with fury after plans for a controversial incinerator were recommended for approval ahead of a crunch meeting.
Politicians are set to rule on a bid by energy firm Waste Recycling Group (WRG) to build a 300,000-tonne-a-year incinerator near Calvert.
A report released ahead of a County Hall meeting on Tuesday has described the application as ‘the most important this committee has ever had to take’.
Vale MP John Bercow yesterday revealed he has written to communities secretary Eric Pickles calling for a review, and said the battle is ‘far from over’.
Mr Bercow told the Herald: “The incinerator and its 315ft chimney would produce thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste that would have a devastating impact on the local environment and up to 30,000 people in Buckinghamshire.
“Furthermore, the local transport infrastructure is not sufficient to cope with the additional traffic.”
He said he had requested Mr Pickles reviews the scheme, stating: “I consider this battle to be far from over, and I will continue to campaign with (campaign group) SAVI and local people against this damaging proposal.”
District councillor Jackie Phipps, Conservative. also hit out, stating: “A lot ofthe arguments against HS2 apply to this application as well, yet the county council is opposing HS2 and supporting this.”
And county councillor Michael Edmonds, Conservative, said: “I shall be trying to persuade my colleagues not to approve it.
“I think there’s no proven need for it. My biggest concern would be that this is a facility being provided in the north of the county to facilitiate the whole of the county.”
A 139-page report from County Hall planning officer David Periam has ruled that there is a need for the plant, which would be at Greatmoor Farm and the Calvert Landfill Site.
Mr Periam concluded: “The application will inevitably impact most greatly on those living in and around the application site and on the routes to and from it and on the local enviroment. I have sought to examine those potential impacts above and in most areas have concluded that the impacts are acceptable or can be made so through the provision of conditions attached to any planning permission.”
Aylesbury Vale District Council has objected to the bid.
Tuesday’s development control committee meeting will be held at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, in Guttman Road, at 10am.
