Incinerator permit ban end is 'bad' for Wisbech

Aiga Zelve said she was concerned about pollution in the town if the incinerator went ahead

People in Wisbech have reacted with dismay to the lifting of a temporary ban on new waste-burning incinerators in England.

A large waste-to-energy plant is being proposed in the Cambridgeshire market town.

MVV Environment wants to build the facility on the Algores Industrial Estate near the Cambridgeshire-Norfolk border.

An order which prevented the Environment Agency from issuing permits to new plants expired on 24 May.

'Enormous lorries'

Marian and Ken Sherry are worried about lorry traffic if the incinerator goes ahead

"It's a really bad thing," said Aiga Zelve, 22, who grew up in the town.

"I'll continue to live in Wisbech," she said. "The traffic is an issue already, so if it becomes a bigger issue it'll definitely be upsetting to a lot of people."

Marian Sherry, 77, and Ken Sherry, 79, agreed.

"Too many lorries would come into town, the roads just can't take it," said Mr Sherry.

"The size of the lorries they'll send are just enormous."

Mr Sherry said any political party promising to stop the incinerator would get his vote in the 4 July general election.

"We've had so many promises, they're like pie crusts, made to be broken," Ms Sherry said.

Previously the ban meant the Wisbech incinerator had planning permission but not a permit to operate.

Residents who were campaigning against the plant, which would be one of the largest in Europe, described the ban as a "reprieve".

Now there are fears that its lifting could pave the way for the plant to be built.

"Why put it where there's a lot of people?" asked Kathleen Taylor, 49, who lives near the proposed site on Algores Way. "It's not far from where we are. I don't like it whatsoever."

'Dead against it'

Colin Ogden said the incinerator site was too close to a big school

Colin Ogden, 82, from Walton Highway across the border in Norfolk, said the incinerator would "gridlock the place".

"I'm dead against it," he said. "For one thing, whatever they say, there's going to be emissions from it, and it's so near a school, young people."

'Good neighbour'

Irene Carter said the incinerator should be built away from people

Irene Carter, 69, Gorefield, near Wisbech, asked: "Has anybody given true consideration to the number of vehicles that will come into this small market town from north, south, east and west?"

She questioned why it had not been sited "somewhere... where it doesn't offend anybody".

The Environmental Services Association, the trade body for the UK's waste industry, welcomed the lifting of the temporary ban.

Paul Carey, MVV’s managing director, said at the time the consent for the Wisbech incinerator was granted: "We want to assure the local community that we will be a good neighbour as we build and operate the new facility, as we have already demonstrated at our facilities in Plymouth and Dundee."