Teesworks: Energy secretary asked to halt North Yorkshire project which ‘dumps incinerator on one of the most deprived areas in Europe’

Councillor Dr Tristan Learoyd said he had written to Mr Miliband asking him to end this “planet and health destroying madness”

The Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility aims to provide a “local, secure, reliable and affordable solution” for treating residual waste left over after recycling produced by more than 1.5m people from across the North-East.

Once built on the Grangetown Prairie site west of Tees Dock Road, it will burn up to 450,000 tonnes of general rubbish, using it to generate almost 50,000 megawatts of electricity – enough to power the equivalent of 60,000 homes.

The scheme, which has been several years in the making, was granted reserved matters planning permission by Redcar and Cleveland councillors at a meeting last year and involves a number of North-East local authorities as partners.

The meeting heard from Paul Foster, of the campaign group Stop Incineration North East, who said Teesside already had four working incinerators with more in the pipeline, a similar sentiment echoed by Coun Learoyd.

Writing to Mr Miliband, he said the project “dumps an incinerator on one of the most deprived areas in Europe”.

He said: “I have largely been a sole voice on the council in trying to halt this carbon emission madness and incentive to burn and not recycle.”

He also claimed that, when combined with other potential incinerator commissions, annual carbon dioxide output on Teesside could increase by 50% by 2030 compared to the position post the closure of the former Redcar steelworks in 2015.

Coun Learoyd said: “I am calling on you to stop further incinerator licences, irrespective of their planning and construction phase, including [the] planned Grangetown incinerator.”

Previous statements issued on behalf of the partnership of local councils have referred to the facility being a more sustainable and lower-carbon solution than landfill with a requirement that its operation is also permitted and monitored by the Environment Agency in order to adhere to strict regulations.

However it may not be carbon neutral until at least 2040, having been overlooked to date for funding aimed at bringing onstream the required carbon capture technology by Mr Miliband’s department, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

Successive Redcar and Cleveland Council leaders have rejected calls to pull out of the project.

Current council leader Alec Brown said Coun Learoyd, who has pointed out the borough’s poor recent recycling record, had “no alternative to what is going to happen to 450,000 tonnes of waste that goes to landfill every year”.

He said: “I absolutely understand the opposition to stuff like this, but it’s easy when there are no obvious alternative solutions.”

The Local Democracy Reporting Service contacted DESNZ for a comment, but was directed to two different Government departments instead.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said ministers had no powers to “call in” such planning applications for their own determination.

Meanwhile, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) advised that the Government was committed to reducing waste by moving the country towards a “circular economy”.

This included considering the role of waste incineration and both the “threat and opportunity this poses for circularity, economic growth, and net zero”.