May 2010  Barnsley Planners Do Care About Pollution... but not ours! Read Here

The group behind plans for a £77 million waste processing plant have hit back at suggestions that it will be a health hazard. The Barnsley Doncaster Rotherham Waste Partnership are upset that campaigners believe a deal has been done to site a rubbish burning incinerator at Bolton Road in Manvers. 

But they do not deny it will be built there! 

and with out proper consultation!

Members of the partnership moved this week to reassure residents that a decision on what treatment equipment would be used and where was still a long way off and insisted that they would have full control over what shape the plant would take.

Not according to their own officers read here>>

But Cllr Richard Russell, chairman of the waste partnership, said: “It is scaremongering to suggest that any future development would be anything less than absolutely safe and rigorously controlled to ensure meeting the highest possible operating standards laid down by legislation.

"Then build it in Rotherham!"

“Whatever proposal is put forward, will be subject to planning permission.

“It will have to meet the most stringent World Health Organisation regulations on public protection.

“The design and operation will be scrutinised by the Environment Agency, (EA) before it can be granted an Environmental Permit.

“The plant will also be continuously monitored by the operator, the Environment Agency and the BDR Waste Partnership.

“People should be reassured that public health and safety is the first priority for the partnership 'but' like all local authorities across the UK we have to act now to tackle the issue of what to do with leftover household waste.”

Why include a 'but' does it mean that public health and safety is secondary to the local authorities need to act now?

Campaigners last week cited information from a recent report which looked at the possible health risks posed by incinerator emissions.  

Cllr Russell said: “In the same week, the UK’s Health Protection Agency (HPA) published its own report, which said precisely the opposite.

“The point is that there is so much information out there, you need to be very careful about claiming just one opinion to be the authoritative view.

 The Partnership and Councillor Richard Russell Cleary hasn't bothered to read our pages!  Our claim has 360 journal references and they can be checked here  the HPA document has been done by their own consultants!  Tell him here

“Whatever is finally chosen will be subject to the most stringent regulations and monitoring standards. All have already been successfully used in either the UK or Europe.”

Two competing bidders will be announced in December at which point more information as possible will be made public about both proposals and people will have the opportunity to express their views.

Our view is

'If it safe.. then put in the middle of Rotherham - Barnsley or Doncaster!

Tell them here

The current position with the BDR PFI Project is that four leading waste industry specialist companies have put forward their proposals for dealing with leftover waste.

They are:

• Amey Cespa  - Earth Tech Skansa  - Sita Lend Lease and

• 3SE (Shanks Group PLC and Scottish and Southern Energy Limited)

Each company has put forward different proposals, using a range of different technologies, which will turn this waste into a resource and divert it from landfill.  

These four proposals are being examined in detail in order to find the best solution – taking into account a range of issues including cost, impacts on local communities, and benefits to the environment.

Later this year, it is likely that two companies will be short listed.  At this point it may be possible to publish more specific details of their proposals. 

The preferred scheme will be selected jointly by Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham councils in the summer of 2010.

A long and detailed local authority planning consultation will follow and will provide for public comment on the detail of what is proposed.  If approved, the commissioned facilities are expected to open in August 2014.

The Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham BDR Waste Partnership successfully secured £77.4m of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) funding from the Government for the project.

The BDR Waste Partnership is totally committed to the ethos that waste is a valuable resource.   Consequently, the facilities that are being proposed by all the bidders will remove as much as possible that can be reused or recycled in the pre-treatment processes.  

This will include a combination of metals, glass, paper, card, inert grit, plastic etc. 

What is left over after all that has been done may well be subject to heat treatment to extract energy from it in the form of electricity, gas or heat.  Even the residue from the process will be subject to more recycling and when all that is done, the small amount left will be sent to landfill.

Our website www.bdronline.co.uk offers a guide to the range of technologies available for the treatment of waste. 

 You refer in your message to a British Society for Ecological Medicine report and the potential health risks posed by incinerator developments. This information has been passed to the Project’s Management Team for information.

 The BDR project team is also acutely aware of the concerns about health impacts.  The facilities will be designed to the standards currently in operation and set by the World Health Organisation. The design and operating regime of the facility will be scrutinised by the Environment Agency before an Environmental Permit is issued to the operator.  The plant will be monitored continuously by the operator, BDR and the EA throughout its life and there will be clear plans in operation to ensure that it runs in a proper manner without any adverse impacts on the local communities.

 We have been consulting with the EA at various stages of the procurement process and are keen to get them involved in future consultation.  As the Project develops further we will expand the information available on our website.

Why Manvers is the preferred site by the Partnership Team and the District Councils

Why they have failed so far to conduct a proper and effective consultation in the communities affected the  Proposed  Site on Bolton Road

Does 'may well be subject to heat treatment' mean that they really do not know what they have tendered for or that they will accept what a profit motivated commercial company tells them what is in  their/our best interest e.g. an incinerator.

Their website states " We are currently carrying out consultation with local people across the three local authorities about a list of possible strategic sites which could be used for the treatment of all waste.

However Rotherham's website says

 "Public Meeting 15^th July 2009, on potential site in Manvers, Wath upon Dearne, Rotherham. Consultation Period now closed."

Were you consulted? If not why not?.... They haven't said!

Ask Them Here