Waste plans look set for go-ahead

7:00pm Friday 18th July 2008

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PLANS for a huge waste plant in Basildon will be decided next week – and campaigners are fearing the worst.

The Echo’s Don’t Dump on Basildon campaign calls on Essex County Council to ditch its proposals for an anaerobic digester and recycling plant.

The main argument has been Basildon has suffered other people’s waste for far too long at Pitsea tip.

Yet County Hall officers recommended councillors approve the county council’s own application at a meeting next Friday.

This would lead to a mechanical biological treatment plant, dealing with thousands of tonnes of rubbish, and a recycling depot at Courtauld Road.

The recommendation is the second blow to the campaign after the county council this week agreed within its waste strategy to press ahead with mechanical biological treatment.

Green campaigners say the new bid paves the way for small-scale incineration because the residue from the two plants – another is planned near Rivenhall – can be burnt to provide fuel.

Although the ruling Tory administration at Basildon Council opposes the Basildon plant, representatives from the authority are in full support of the idea.

Basildon Council leader Malcolm Buckley said: “It is not the principle we oppose, just the location.

“Basildon has done its share with Pitsea tip.”

However, it is widely believed the administration has resigned itself to it being approved.

Campaigners have also been critical of recent consultations which the county council said proved support for their plans.

However, fewer than one per cent of Essex households voiced their opinions during consultations.

Paula Whitney, waste co-ordinator for Essex Friends of the Earth, branded the consultation misleading because it did not make it clear the residue could end up being burnt.

She said: “The bid for contracts will destroy half of our valuable resources for 30 years by shredding and drying black bag waste in massive plants producing fuel pellets, with hundreds of lorries daily.”

But Tracey Chapman, county councillor for environment, said: “It is really great news for residents.

“We spent a lot of time working up a strategy that would not only reduce waste and increase recycling, but would make sure residents were not bearing the brunt of the increasing rise in landfill tax.”