Green Party County Cllr for Stroud Sarah Lunnon writes:
The high court judgement has gone against Stroud District Council in the matter of the Conservative County Council’s plans to burn recyclable material for the next 25 years. We should applaud the District Council for all its efforts to represent the views of local people in resisting the imposition of this outdated, expensive, inappropriate eyesore.
This is a huge disappointment for me and the thousands of residents who will be adversely affected by its presence in their midst at Javelin Park.
The Conservatives will create a massive ugly monument to their time in charge, which will add to the problem recently acknowledged by the Local Government Association, that the UK can’t possibly achieve recycling targets of 70%, because too many local authorities are committed to incineration. This view is confirmed by the government of Denmark, which now accepts that incineration is the reason their recycling rates are so low.
The Danes did at least ensure that they would use their incinerators to provide heat to housing schemes as well as generate electricity.
That won’t happen here, all the heat will be wasted.
I hope that Stroud District Council will find it possible to legally pursue an alternative course; one that encourages the reduction of waste and the recycling of what cannot be avoided. Our future generations will need those resources, not the pollution of mass burn incineration.