Go ahead for incinerator

ST GEORGE defeated the fire-breathing dragon but protesters on Friday were unable to prevent East Sussex County Council from proceeding with plans to build a waste incinerator at Newhaven.

The traditional scene of St George slaying the monster was acted out in Lewes as council members entered Pelham House to debate controversial waste plans.

About 100 demonstrators called for incinerators to be removed from the plans and for the council to head towards a policy of zero waste.

Joelle van Tinteren of DOVE (Defenders of the Ouse Valley and Estuary) said: We are hoping the council will decide now before it is too late to safeguard the health and well-being of residents, and to enable the county to make money and jobs from recycling.

But her hopes, and those of many others, were dashed when at the council meeting it became quite clear that the majority of council members were for the plans.

They agreed that North Quay, Newhaven, remains the preferred site for a waste incinerator to serve the western part of the county and that Mountfield Mine at Mountfield be a preferred site for another to serve the east.

The council did agree, however, to add a rider that incinerators will only be supported after a successful environmental and health assessment has been carried out; and it is calling on the Government to make sure its agency appointed to protect the environment carries out its duties to the full in respect of incinerators.

Council leader Cllr Peter Jones (Rye) said East Sussex had massive problems in finding locations for its waste.

Unlike other counties, it had very few holes in the ground and much of the countryside was in areas of outstanding beauty.

As far as incincerators were concerned, a number of people had tried to hijack the debate and blow the issues out of proportion, he added.

What was needed were hard facts. Rye had an incinerator and people there were advocates of it.

Cllr Jon Freeman (Seaford) said: Large incinerators would run 24 hours a day and would need constant filling, possibly by importing waste.

Low emissions of toxins does not mean no toxins.

His call for an independent investigations into the health risks of incinerators was turned down.

Cllr David Neighbour (Teslcombe) asked why the incinerators were not being placed in the areas that produced the most waste, such as Brighton and Hastings.

It was wrong to put them in rural areas, he added.

But Cllr Godfrey Daniel (Hastings) said: Let s get to the public inquiry stage before we are buried in waste. We cannot delay much longer.

The biggest pollutant in Lewes is fireworks night ... more polluting than an incinerator plant!