FURNACE BID IS REHEATED
November 2004
Plans for a waste-burning incinerator to deal with the region's growing household rubbish mountain are back on the agenda, the Mail can reveal today (Wednesday 17 November 2004).
A public vote on a range of options to deal with the growing amount of waste for Hull and the East Riding has put incineration as a top preference.
Council officials say the vote, together with an in-depth technical review of the options, now supports incineration, together with higher levels of recycling, as the way forward.
However, none of the six options to deal with the waste mountain included in a poll of 250,000 households emerged as a clear favourite in the 29,000 returned forms.
Councillors from a joint waste management committee covering Hull City Council and East Riding Council will be asked to back incineration as the preferred technology to replace landfill dumping at a meeting next week.
Plans for a £35m incinerator in Foster Street, east Hull, were shelved last year when the project was rejected following a public inquiry.
The decision by Government planning inspectors delighted campaigners, who organised a 20,000-name petition against the scheme.
But officials from the two authorities are now backing a renewed waste policy involving incineration and higher levels of recycling.
Their preferred option follows a 10-month study by independent consultants and a major consultation exercise.
Incineration received the highest number of first and second preference votes from the public, who were asked to rank six different waste disposal technologies.
Trish Dalby, the East Riding's head of environmental services, said: "The consultation was the biggest of its kind ever conducted.
"We were very pleased with the response and the preference vote, while not overwhelmingly in favour of any particular option, has shown support for a mixture of smaller-scale incineration and higher levels of recycling than we have at the moment."
Doug Sharp, the city council's sustainable waste development manager, said both authorities were being asked to commit themselves to achieving a 45 per cent recycling rate by 2020.
"The growth in waste will determine the number of facilities required," he said.
"The higher level of recycling we can achieve, the less we will have to rely on incineration."
If the new policy is adopted next week, a search will then begin for a possible site for an incinerator.
The Foster Street site is thought to be a non-starter because of the public inquiry decision, but Guildhall sources say one possible location could be in the Saltend area of east Hull.
Mr Sharp said it was unlikely that a potential site would be chosen before the end of next year when a planning application would be submitted.
David Callaghan
