Judge rules incinerator plan legal (From Oxford Mail)
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Judge rules incinerator plan legal
9:30am Saturday 9th July 2011 in News By Sam McGregor
Ardley Against the Incinerator chairman Jon O’Neill
A CONTROVERSIAL Incinerator will be built in Oxfordshire after campaigners yesterday lost a last-ditch attempt to halt the plan.
The Incinerator at Ardley, near Bicester, could be operational in three years and would be Oxfordshire’s first.
The campaigners’ £50,000 legal bid to block the incinerator was thrown out by the High Court.
Members of Ardley Against the Incinerator (AAI) last night said they were “gutted”.
The group has been landed with the Government’s £10,000 legal bill.
Local residents and businesses raised thousands to take Secretary of State Eric Pickles to the Appeal Court over his decision to allow waste firm Viridor to build the 300,000 tonne incinerator.
They had asked the London court to quash Mr Pickles’ decision and order the Secretary of State to reconsider.
The group claimed the incinerator was much bigger than needed to meet the county’s needs, would be a rural eyesore and its emissions could damage human and animal health.
They argued the Secretary of State was wrong in law in granting permission to operator Viridor Waste Management.
Deputy Judge Howell QC ruled Mr Pickles was entitled to grant permission and said there were “fundamental defects” in the campaigners’ case.
AAI chairman Jon O’Neill said: “We are gutted. We obviously wanted the best; believed the worst and hoped for the best.
“It was not the decision we wanted, but that’s part of the risk of going to court. We are pleased we were able to get there and were able to push this as far as we could.”
He said the group would now digest the judgement and consider its options.
Mr O’Neill said the £10,000 legal costs had already been lodged with the court.
Oxfordshire County Council, which says the burner is needed to avoid hefty landfill taxes, welcomed the court’s “common sense” decision.
Its cabinet member for growth and infrastructure, Lorraine Lindsay-Gale, said: “We hope that Ardley Against Incineration will now accept this decision and not cause any further unnecessary delay and expense.”
She said it had been a matter of “strong public interest” that the issue was resolved as quickly as possible.
Viridor’s project manager, Robert Ryan, said: “We are pleased with the judgement and look forward to progressing the project.”
In his judgement, Deputy Judge Howell QC said: “The Secretary of State had made a clear finding that, in his view, human health would not be endangered and the environment would not be harmed.
“I appreciate that the claimants disagree strongly with the conclusions the Inspector and the Secretary of State reached about the waste facility in this location.
“But this is not an appeal on the merits. Those conclusions are not impugnable as a matter of law.”
Viridor hopes to open the incinerator in 2014.
Comments(7)
Gunslinger
says...
2:20pm Sat 9 Jul 11
The delay in getting on with this is literally burning a hole in everybody's pockets, there was never any doubt this would go ahead and people have been conned into putting up £50,000 for nothing.
West Oxon Webwatcher
says...
3:13pm Sat 9 Jul 11
Lord Peter Macvay
says...
2:44am Sun 10 Jul 11
West Oxon Webwatcher wrote:Your point is just one of the “fundamental defects” in the campaigners’ case.
Querying of Abingdon says that this decision will lead to Oxfordshire becoming a waste dump for a wider area. How can this be so when the campaign says that the Ardley incinerator is not needed because there are other alternative incinerators near by? If this is the case, then it would seem that it would be underused rather than attract refuse from further way as it costs money to transport refuse and this is again a case for a local Oxon incinerator.
callum1
says...
3:57pm Sun 10 Jul 11
Lord Peter Macvay
says...
9:35pm Sun 10 Jul 11
callum1 wrote:carly your talents are wasted. You obviously know better than the experts in waste management, the manufacturers of these plants, the scientists that carried out the impact assessments, and most of all, the Judges at the Highest Court in the land. My god you are so good, companies must be fighting themselves to employ you on a starting salary of £5 million PA. Thank god it is all over, and the firm of solicitors that conned you out of your money can now spend it on a nice summer holiday. P.S. I wonder if Viridor will take on my "lean green burning machine" slogan. It is copyrighted so I might make a few quid out of it.
A fundamental defect of the whole business is that there is no need for an incinerator in Oxfordshire, as there are other ways of complying with the Waste Directive. Moreover an incinerator just to meet Oxfordshire's 150,000 tonnes pa, would not be commercially viable enough for Viridor. The Secretary of State’s decision not to restrict the hinterland, means that for its commercial advantage, Viridor will be able to import waste from areas that are not as successful as Oxfordshire in recycling their waste. Another home goal from Keith Mitchell!
callum1
says...
10:02pm Mon 11 Jul 11
My advice to Lord Peter is simply that if you must be selfish, be wisely selfish. Wise people serve others sincerely, putting the needs of others above their own. Ultimately you will be happier. The kind of selfishness that uses such sarcastic words as in your comment, forgetting other people’s welfare, will only result in your own loss.
Querying says...
11:22am Sat 9 Jul 11
This was done despite it would provoke the anger of the Leader Keith Mitchell, as of course it did.
The County Council then inevitably failed to argue its case convincingly at the Planning Appeal launched by Viridor, leaving local campaigners to take it to the High Court.
It is therefore another case of a developer simply forcing its controversial proposals onto those living in the community.
It also means that Oxfordshire will increasingly become a waste dump for a wider area and for other authorities who fail to meet the excellent recycling rates of the people of Oxfordshire.