Does Cornwall have money to burn?
TAXPAYERS in Cornwall risk being lumbered with a £216 million bill if a contract with the company behind plans for a waste incinerator is terminated, it was claimed yesterday.
That is the figure councillors say it would cost to cancel Cornwall Council's contract with French giant Sita UK – and could lead to an 8 per cent rise in council tax.
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Flashback: St Dennis residents march against incinerator plans in 2006.
The council's Waste Development Advisory Panel (WDAP) voted yesterday to retain the £500 million 30-year contract signed by the former county council's Lib-Dem administration. It allows Sita to handle and dispose of the county's waste, including the building of an incinerator as an alternative to landfill sites.
Councillor Julian German (Ind), panel chairman and executive member for the environment, said: "Terminating the contract would have meant an 8 per cent rise in council tax bills. That would be the cross to bear if the contract is terminated."
But opponents of plans for the Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre incinerator at St Dennis, Mid Cornwall, questioned the council's figures, accusing it of over-estimating the cost to suit its own goals.
Pat Blanchard, chairman of St Dennis Incinerator Group, said: "We've had a lot of discussion but we're still no further forward – it's like wading through treacle. I think the £216 million figure is hugely over-estimated.
"The truth is the contract with Sita stinks and we have to go back to basics to find out why a contact which has put Cornwall in a straight-jacket was ever signed in the first place."
Yesterday, the WDAP voted 9-3 in favour of recommending to the council's cabinet that the contract with Sita UK continues. The cabinet is due to meet on February 10 to make the final decision.
In March last year, the former Cornwall County Council refused Sita UK permission to build the incinerator at St Dennis.
The company is appealing against the decision and a public inquiry is scheduled for March.
No option within the terms of the contract exists to separate the question of the incinerator from the rest of the document.
Yesterday's recommendation also included the council telling Sita UK to draw up a "Revised Project Plan" in order to get waste management proposals back on track.
The public gallery was packed with campaigners opposing the building of the incinerator at St Dennis in the Clay Country.
The vote was passed after the panel was given a council report detailing how independent financial consultants, Pricewaterhouse Cooper, estimated that to end the Sita contract, the initial cost would range from £35 million to £50 million.
On top of that figure, it was estimated that annual costs for the 2014-2023 period for disposing of waste using landfill would set the council back £166 million, because of the taxes councils pay for dumping refuse in landfill under EU environmental laws.
The meeting also heard from private waste consultants Fichtner, which analysed seven options to solve the county's waste management problem.
The report concluded that the £117 million incinerator plan was the best as it represented the "best technical, financial and environmental option".
Councillor Dick Cole (Mebyon Kernow), who opposed the recommendation, said he was disappointed by the vote and was sceptical about the £216 million figure.
He added: "I don't accept the figures that are flying around. I believe the figures are flawed. I'm also disappointed by the arguments made and believe that we should be looking at other options."
Sita UK wants to build the incinerator in the centre of Cornwall at St Dennis as an alternative to landfill tips which the Government is phasing out.
As the Sita plans currently stand, an incinerator with a 390ft chimney would be built, capable of dealing with 240,000 tonnes of waste a year. It would be capable of handling all Cornwall's domestic waste and converting it into electricity and heat to power 21,000 homes.
Plans to build the site just hundreds of yards from the village of St Dennis have sparked fears the community would be blighted for years to come. Campaigners are calling for an increase in recycling and cleaner technological solutions to combat the landfill problem instead.
Mrs Blanchard said: "We have to look at better alternatives than what's on the table at the moment. It's too important for the people of Cornwall to get wrong."
After the meeting, David Buckle, Sita UK's project director, said: "The recommendation of the WDAP is a positive development for the county as a whole.
"The panel has spent considerable time investigating a range of waste issues and potential alternatives to energy from waste.
"Ultimately, however, their recommendation is to continue with the existing contract, including development of the CERC (incinerator).
"This, along with Fichtner's findings, is recognition that a single energy from waste plant represents the best available option for Cornwall to avoid a looming waste crisis."
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by Stormbringer, Valhalla
Friday, January 29 2010, 1:16PM
“How sad that so many Cornish people are willing to dump on an already blighted part of their county,maybe there is a place for incinerators,but usually on industrial parks where all the heat produced can be used,not on the edge of a village and using only a fraction of it to pump into a clayworks that is already on a three day week and will more than likely not even be operating by the time it's built?As for producing electricity,it will be sold to the grid to make profit for SITA and will only cause an increase in fuel bills for everyone.The Cornish will never get independence until the people learn to come together,you call the protesters NIMBY's while failing to see that this monster is in your backyard as well,do you think the impact of this will only affect St Dennis?"One and All" don't make me laugh!”
by Dave Joslin, St Austell
Friday, January 29 2010, 10:22AM
“Do these protestors want an unsightly landfill site on their doorstep? I don't think so. The incinerator is not harmful in the least and will produce energy from waste. Some people just like protesting and these protests have cost me and all the other council taxpayers a lot of money already. NIMBYs the lot of them they would protest whatever was being put near them.”
by Jeff, St Austell
Thursday, January 28 2010, 2:32PM
“Such unbelievable ineptness can only be caused by Councillers. So a) We sign a contract with SITA that demands them to build a CERC b) They come up with the best possible location and the most up-to-date relevant technology at the time (noting that it takes years to create plans for such a thing) c) Councillors reject it because ther is now better technology available.(or as it because local elections were coming up - I wonder...)
Surely this process could be repeated till infinity? If the incinerator works is safe and only puts out 0.001% of the population then I'm all for it. St Dennis is hardly a beauty spot anyway! I don't think I've ever heard anyone "visit" there in my entire 40 years of being in Cornwall!!”
by Colin Carrot, Plymouth
Thursday, January 28 2010, 1:54PM
“If Cornwall asked Sita to set up a kitchen waste collection and an in-vessel composting scheme. It could be done in a relatively short time. They would avoid all the extra landfill charges by so doing at a cost of perhaps £20 million. In the longer term they could invest in a comprehensive anaerobic digestion scheme feeding the gas grid thereby avoiding landfill and incineration. This could be done for far less than the £216 million. Nuff sed”
by Chris, St Ives
Thursday, January 28 2010, 1:50PM
“I agree with Sheryl below - most people I have spoken to indeed DO want the incinerator especially once they have seen actual facts about it and not just the negative press we are used to seeing in our local paper.”
by Sheryl, Truro
Thursday, January 28 2010, 1:44PM
“I get so fed up with the "negative" press that the West Briton continually publish about the incinerator.
This technology is proven and will soon be the most common method of waste disposal in the UK.
Every new waste tender across the country includes building an incinerator so I cannot understand stupid comments like "don't let Cornwall burn".
CERC's are a superb technology and used across the entire globe - it is by far the most popular method in Europe. To compare it to Aberfan in your comment is absolutely disgusting. You say "It''s big ugly and we don't want it" - I can assure you there isn't anything "pretty and small" that deals with 200,000 tonnes of waste a year and I think you're wrong as 99% of people I speak to do want it as they do not want a huge hike on their bills so some people in St Dennis don't have to look at a big building down the road.
Yes there are newer technologies (although not as proven as the CERC) and there will be newer technologies every year but if you took that attitude then we would never deal with the issue. This is proven to work and it is safe - the air that comes out of this incinerator by the time it has gone through the plant is of better quality than you'll find in some European Capitals!
Cancelling SITA's contract is an option but this will put 100's out of work and cost at least £50m - (I happen to believe it will cost more) and then the council will have to find another contractor who they will have to pay the same amount to deal with the waste - unbelieveable stupid idea!”
by michael, marazion
Thursday, January 28 2010, 1:12PM
“i am sure that there is something that cornwall council, in one or other of it's guises, has done well, it's just not coming to mind at the moment.........”
by John, Redruth
Thursday, January 28 2010, 1:09PM
“The Sita plans were freely available and the deal was done to get an Energy from Waste plant built and paid for by Sita. They want a return on their investment hence the 30 years, they wouldn't get their money back in 5 or 10.
We can't keep using landfill or chuck rubbish down mine shafts anymore and at the end of the day it's our rubbish, Sita doesn't create the rubbish we do.
When St Dennis cheered for stopping the plans they just pushed the problem back to St Day, because without an incinerator we need landfill.
And when I hear councillors saying they are sceptical of a figure of over £200 m, so it should be what? £180m £160m? It's still a ridiculous amount of money for us to pay for no other reason that their own incompetence.
These people beggar belief. I wonder if any of them have ever worked in the real world and while they argue over their increased expense payments we get footed with a bill that THEY have created.
And Mebyon Kernow have what plans or policies on this matter? Anybody any clues? Because they haven't”
by David White, Cornwall
Thursday, January 28 2010, 1:04PM
“@Racko, GB
I think you will find there are very few Cornish people in senior management positions within the Council. Could it be partly because all top positions are advertised through a Birmingham based recruitment agency?? Hmmm.”
by Mary, Polzeath - England
Thursday, January 28 2010, 12:56PM
“I think you have more chance of being knocked over by Jesus skate-boarding up and down fore street with emu on his shoulder than you of MK winning anything in the real world, why anyone speaks to Cole is beyond me”