Consequences of County Hall Tories' Incinerator U-Turn are a Feature of their 'Toxic Legacy'

The Liberal Democrats have slammed the 'toxic legacy' of the Tories at County Hall and repeated their criticism of the u-turn which saw the preferred technology for a new waste treatment plant changed from Mechanical and Biological Treatment to the more environmentally harmful method of incineration.

The delay caused by the change of focus to the more controversial incineration technology could prove to be extremely costly to local taxpayers as well the local and wider environment, with landfill taxes escalating annually and landfill allowances, which have financial penalties attached, set to shrink rapidly.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Implementation Executive Member and Putnoe Ward Councillor Michael Headley said:

"Amongst the many features of the toxic legacy of the Conservatives at County Hall this is one of the worst. By dropping the original intention to use the environmentally superior Mechanical and Biological Treatment technology to dispose of waste and instead seeking to build a more controversial giant incinerator, the Tory County Council delayed the whole process. Meanwhile, landfill taxes have increased by over 50% in two years and the amount of waste that the council is permitted to put into landfill before facing severe fines is set to shrink drastically.'

"There is a real risk that an incinerator project will be held up with understandable planning concerns that wouldn't be as great with another technology. Any hold up would be very costly for taxpayers. The Conservatives should never have carried out the delay-causing u-turn on the superior and less controversial Mechanical and Biological Treatment proposal."