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Support grows for fight against gasification site
PROTESTERS say they have been inundated with offers of support for their campaign to prevent a waste treatment plant being built in Dunston following a heated public meeting.
Nearly 700 local residents and business owners packed the meeting at Chester-field's Winding Wheel to express fears about the plans for Sheepbridge Resource Park.
Cyclamax – the company behind the 35m development, which would be on the former Cammac Coal Site, on Dunston Road – submitted plans to Derbyshire County Council last summer but have faced growing opposition.
Julie Harrington, spokeswoman for the Chesterfield Against Incinerators campaign group, said that the meeting demonstrated the level of concern about the plant.
Overwhelming
She said: "We have had an overwhelming response from the public and business owners since Thursday.
"From people offering advice and support to expert consultants, website designers, people with local knowledge of the site and also people wanting to donate towards the solicitor's fees to challenge the application."
Speaking at the meeting, Cyclamax's managing director Tony Watkins said the plant would generate renewable energy by burning waste and recycle 13,000 tonnes of material a year that would otherwise go to landfill.
Chesterfield Against Incinerators then set out reasons for their opposition, focusing on the proximity to a large population and the suitability of gasification technology.
Retired GP and renowned researcher into the effects of industrial pollution, Dr Dick van Steenis, travelled from Wales to share his expert knowledge.
He summarised the increases in health complaints, including asthma, heart attacks and cancers, that studies have shown have occured in areas near incinerators and warned that these could be seen in Chesterfield if the gasification plant gets the go-ahead.
But Cyclamax disputed the findings of this research and other "unsubstantiated claims" made by objectors.
Rick Twomey, company technical director, said after the meeting: "One of the principle arguments made against the Resource Park was about the microscopic particles called PM2.5 and the damage they cause.
"PM2.5 are generated by many industries as well as motor vehicles. It takes just 2.5 days for traffic on a three-mile stretch of the A61 around Chesterfield to generate the same amount of particulate pollution the Sheepbridge gasification plant would in a whole year."
Mr Twomey also confirmed that Cyclamax has been contacted by more than 50 companies wanting to provide goods and services to the Resource Park and more than 75 people have asked about jobs.
* Chesterfield Borough Council's planners will decide whether to recommend the planning application for approval by the county council at a meeting at 6pm, on January 26, at the Winding Wheel.Arguing the case for and against
Why Cyclamax wants Sheepbridge:
* The need to stop sending so much waste to landfill – according to Cyclamax there is only enough landfill space in the country to last seven more years.
* The Sheepbridge site has an industrial past and is close to a large urban area that will produce the industrial and commercial waste that the plant will burn.
* There is a skilled and available workforce in Chesterfield due to the decline of manufacturing and engineering in the area.
* Phase one of the development (the building of the Material Recycling Facility and the Energy Recovery Building) will bring a total of 41 jobs and over 1m of wages into the local economy.
* Emissions from the combustion needed for the energy recovery will conform to standards set by the Environment Agency, which can revoke the licence for the plant if it consistently fails to meet the requirements.
* The plant will produce enough energy to power 16,000 homes – this electricity will be connected to the local distribution network for use by local businesses and households and will not need to go to the National Grid.
* For more information about the gasification plant visit www.sheepbridgeresourcepark.co.uk.
Why residents don't want the plant:
* The site is no longer industrial, it is surrounded by open countryside, greenbelt land, farmland and residential areas and would have an adverse visual impact on this area.
* Gasification involves burning rubbish and residents feel there are more appropriate ways to deal with waste, including prevention, re-using material, composting or plasma gasification.
* There are serious concerns over the effects on health of having the plant so close to a residential area – between 25,000 and 30,000 people live within two miles of the site and 19 schools are within two miles. Emissions will cover a 16 mile radius.
* Dr Dick van Steenis said studies had shown, the particles released by the gasification process contribute to drastic increases in health conditions, including asthma, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, cancers, depression, infant deaths and behavioural conditions in children such as ADHD.
* The development will bring 60 extra HGV lorry movements daily to already congested roads in the Whittington Moor area, many of which are not suitable for such large vehicles.
* Many other companies in the area are threatening to move away if the gasification plant gets the go ahead, putting hundreds of jobs at risk.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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