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Secrecy claim over incinerator
A COUNCIL has been accused of being secretive over its plans to build a huge waste-burning incinerator on the boundary between Hull and the East Riding.
East Riding councillors Peter Turner, Anne Suggit and Carole Lynn say they have obtained a copy of a letter from the authority making an "expression of interest" for up to 180m of Government funding for the scheme through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).
They wrote to the council's legal officer Matthew Buckley in July, asking him to provide details of blacked out sections in the document, but say they have yet to receive a reply.
In the letter to Mr Buckley, they said: "...We are writing to request a formal review of the redacted sections of the document as there are a number of points that cause us concern.
"It may be that these concerns have been addressed in the redacted sections but we have no way of knowing.
"We do not make this request lightly as we realise that you have many pressures on your time.
"However, we also feel that we would be failing in our duty as councillors if we did not do so, in the interests of transparency, accuracy and open government.
"Above all, we want to avoid decisions being made that may have long-term financial and/or environmental consequences for the two authorities concerned."
Hedon town councillor John Dennis, a spokesman for the anti-incinerator group HOTI, called on the council to find an alternative method of waste disposal.
He said: "We think there's a lot of shuffling about going on and finance is of great importance to everyone these days.
"They are having great trouble getting their funding so here is a good chance to get other systems in place without giving us this monstrosity."
The incinerator, which would be built at Saltend, near Hedon, is crucial to the waste management strategies of both East Riding Council and Hull Council.
It would burn up to 240,000 tonnes of household waste each year.
Failure to deliver the project could hit the authorities and council tax payers hard, as the Government will fine councils 150 per tonne for sending excess waste to landfill.
According to figures obtained by the Yorkshire Post in May, that could represent penalties of 35m for Hull Council and 27m for East Riding Council by 2018.
Waste Recycling Group (WRG), the Spanish-owned firm that signed a 25-year contract to run the plant nearly 10 years ago, has said it is about to submit a second application for a permit to operate the incinerator.
Planning permission for the Saltend site was granted in January last year, but 12 months later the Environment Agency revoked WRG's licence to operate the plant over concerns about a similar scheme in Newhaven, Sussex.
The Agency said the application could take six months to process, and with the councils yet to secure funding, all parties are now in a race against time to deliver the project, which could take four years to become operational once building work has begun.
Campaigners say the delays mean the technology the incinerator would use to turn waste into energy would be redundant by the time the plant opened.
East Riding Council said it had received the councillors' letter and would respond this week.
A spokesman said: "We have to safeguard commercially sensitive material but we will provide as much as we can in the public interest. They will be getting a reply this week."
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Friday 10 February 2012
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