Revised plans for Viridor incinerator discussed
A PUBLIC meeting was held in Dunbar last week to discuss the revised plans for a waste incinerator in the area.
The original plans by Viridor for a site at Oxwellmains sparked a real difference of opinion when they were first announced last year but they were later withdrawn.
The company have since gone back to the drawing board and the proposed plant is now a third smaller than the original proposal to take waste from Edinburgh, Mid Lothian and East Lothian and no longer includes West Lothian and the Borders.
It will also take regional residual commercial and industrial waste from the three areas. It is now proposed to have two process lines rather than the original three carrying 150,000 tonnes per annum each.
In the wake of the original plans being submitted, a local pressure group was set up, IRATE (Incensed Residents Against Toxic Emissions).
Philip Banks spoke on behalf of IRATE at last week's meeting and said there were serious questions over environmental issues and also too many outstanding questions for there not to be substantial doubts about the incinerator.
IRATE have their own campaign website at www.keepdunnysunny.com and have listed a number of reasons why they are against Viridor's plans.
They believe that the cumulative impact on the local area will be massive, taken along with existing industrial plants and that the proposed incinerator offers a quick alternative to landfill but will discourage recycling and reuse, since it does not make clear how it will segregate waste prior to incineration, a key Government requirement.
IRATE also point to the heavy emissions from the proposed plant and the the effects on residents over a period of years and to the significant increase in road traffic. They also claim that under no circumstances is Dunbar the best location for an incenertaor as there is plenty of evidence to suggest that it fails all the Government criteria.
Dan Cooke and Peter Wishart represented Viridor at the meeting and they said that with regard to air quality and health the air quality will not be compromised and they foresee no significant cumulative impacts.
They said the gases are thoroughly cleaned pre release. And responding to concerns about traffic they added that there would be no noticeable increase in traffic levels as the majority of waste arrives by rail and will continue to do so.
They are hoping to receive a planning decision by the end of the year with a view, should this be granted, of possibly starting construction late 2009/2010 and the plant to be running sometime in 2012. However, Councillor Paul McLennan said that the planning department are still consulting and he said there will be no decision made until possibly March 2009.
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Weather for Duns
Thursday 17 May 2012
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