Beds' Tories Incinerator Plans Defeated

Bedford Borough Council last night pulled out of the Bedfordshire Energy and Recycling Project, signalling the end of the plans of the former Conservative County Council to build an expensive, environmentally harmful incinerator.

In a victory for a long campaign by the Liberal Democrats, a meeting of the Council's Executive took the decision to exit the joint agreement with Central Bedfordshire and Luton Borough Councils. It was able to leave the agreement without penalty due to a staggering 44 per cent rise in the projected cost of the plans, which had spiralled to £1.17 billion. The decision was taken behind closed doors after the meeting's Chair, Conservative Group Leader Cllr Nicky Attenborough, excluded the press and public using her casting vote, a move opposed strongly by Liberal Democrat Executive Members who argued for the issues to be debated in the open.

Bedford Borough Lib Dems have opposed plans for an incinerator at every stage, and their campaigning continues due to Tory-run Buckinghamshire County Council's decision this week to seek to build a mammoth 600,000 tonne capacity incinerator at Rookery Pit near Stewartby, the site originally chosen by Bedfordshire Tories.

Commenting, Bedford Borough Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Dave Hodgson said: "It is of course excellent news that we have defeated the Conservatives' flawed plans to burn Bedford Borough's waste in an environmentally harmful incinerator. The Tories have been pressing for an incinerator locally in spite of all the evidence of the cost to the environment, to local taxpayers and to the quality of life for local residents, and we are pleased to be able now to pursue a more sustainable method of waste treatment for Bedford Borough's waste.'

"However, the fight to stop environmentally damaging incineration locally goes on, after the scandalous decision of Tory-run Bucks County Council this week to seek to build an even bigger incinerator near Stewartby in order that it can dump its county's waste in our back yard. This plan will also involve hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rubbish from elsewhere being imported to this area across local roads. This must not happen, and we will fight it every step of the way."

Commenting on the Tories' move to exclude the press and public from the debate at last night's meeting, Cllr Hodgson added: "To exclude the public from such an important decision as this, when the figures under discussion were already widely known, was unnecessary and only gave the impression that the Conservatives have something to hide. We seem to be fighting a constant battle with the Conservatives to open up this Council and to have decisions taken in the most open and transparent way possible."