'Broken promise' row over waste plant vote

The 2003 manifesto, upon which the party took control of York Council, promises, "We will oppose proposals to build incinerators, aiming instead to tackle rubbish levels with strategies for reducing, recycling and reusing waste."

Yet on Tuesday the executives of York Council and North Yorkshire County Council approved a 25-year deal with international waste management firm AmeyCespa – the biggest contract ever awarded in North Yorkshire – to build the incinerator between York and Harrogate.

Following the re-emergence of the seven-year-old election pledge this week, campaigners have attacked senior councillors for breaking promises to the people who elected them.

A spokesman for York Residents Against Incineration, Richard Lane, said: "I was shocked when I saw the election pledge after all this. This was the manifesto people voted for them to take control of the council.

"At that time there was no proposals for this and they had a clear position to say what they wanted and they were categorical.

"Now they have just reneged on that promise."

The chairman of North Yorkshire Waste Action Group (NYWAG), Steve Wright, said: "This is just gross hypocrisy from the council executive and it makes me quite angry.

"They pledged to residents one thing and now are doing exactly the other.

"They are voting for something that they themselves said was not the right way and are breaking promises as they do it."

There has been a huge groundswell in opposition to the incinerator, nearly 10,000 names being signed up to a petition against the plans.

Campaigners say the councils should be looking at alternatives to incineration and that more emphasis should be placed on boosting recycling rates and other technologies such as anaerobic digestion, where micro-organisms break down biodegradable material to produce green energy.

Even some of those in favour of incineration, such as York Council's energy champion Coun Christian Vassie, are strongly opposed to the proposals, claiming by building it in the countryside the councils are creating a "wasteful white elephant".

Senior officials from both North Yorkshire County Council and York Council have claimed the proposed plant is vital to avoid millions of pounds in fines for waste ending up in landfill and to ensure they reach recycling rates of at least 50 per cent by 2020.

The leader of York Council, Andrew Waller, said he was aware of the 2003 pledge but felt the executive had no choice but to accept the plans.

He said: "I was instrumental in bringing forward the massive boost in recycling rates for the city from 12 per cent when we took over to 44 per cent today.

"There is no doubting our commitment to that and we are still rolling it out to more houses still.

"We would be committing the council to significant landfill tax if we didn't do anything,

"We have done everything that we could to enable another option that didn't require incineration but we have to provide a practical solution for this city."

York Council is set to vote on the plans at a full meeting on December 9 and North Yorkshire County Council on December 15.

The multi-million-pound recycling plant will process up to 40,000 tonnes of food and organic waste a year.

It will also use mechanical sorting and anaerobic digestion to produce green energy.