Incinerator joy for residents (From York Press)

Incinerator joy for residents

10:10am Wednesday 15th October 2008 in News By Nicola Fifield, Senior reporter

JUBILANT residents have welcomed the withdrawal of controversial plans for an £18 million waste incinerator on the edge of a village near York.

BCB Environmental Management Ltd was hoping to transform a former Second World War aircraft hangar, at Marston Business Park, near Tockwith, into a waste facility that would produce energy by processing 60,000 tonnes of waste material a year.

Its plans met with fierce opposition from local residents, who feared potential problems with smells, health and increased traffic.

Now, following negotiations with the Environment Agency, BCB Environmental has decided to withdraw its application for planning permission – sparking relief among residents.

Coun John Savage, who represents Tockwith on Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council, said: “There has been jubilation in the Tockwith area since the announcement was made and I am very pleased too.

“If the waste incinerator went ahead, I think it would have been pretty terrible for the residents.

“BCB wanted a thermal plant to burn waste chemicals and nobody really knows what would have been discharged into the atmosphere.

“I had grave concerns for the health and safety of residents and I also think it would have looked completely out of place in the Vale of York – it would have looked like Blackpool Tower.”

But the jubilation of local residents could be short-lived because BCB managing director, Phil Boardman, said today that he intended to resubmit a revised application.

He said: “We have withdrawn our planning application while we review technology options that will enable us to deliver the scheme with minimal environmental impact. This will require a new application. “We remain convinced that energy from waste is the sensible, environmentally-responsible way to generate sustainable electricity and reduce the volume of waste that is sent to landfill.”

When operating, the plant would have generated an estimated ten megawatts of electricity through its combination of gasification and oxidation to destroy waste and recover its energy.

The company would have used the energy it needed to run the plant and the excess would have been sold to the National Grid.