Notts Incinerator Inquiry Postponed!
In a dramatic move the Nottinghamshire Incinerator Public Inquiry has been adjourned until April 13th 2010 and will now run for 4 weeks instead of 3 weeks.
Here's hoping that Veolia might think it is too much hassle or NCC might walk away.
On Wednesday 14th. October, the Public Open Forum will not now be needed. However, PAIN has decided to keep this date in place in order to update members.
The PAIN meeting is at
Rainworth Methodist Church Hall,
Southwell Road East,
Rainworth,
Notts
NG21 0BN
on Wednesday 14th October. 6.30 for 7pm. Cake will be available!
Labels: Activism, England, Environment, Local Government, Waste
posted by greenman @ 5:11 pm
2 Comments:
On Thursday (8th October) Veolia’s Environmental Statement was proved to be incomplete (as PAIN has been saying all along), so they requested an adjournment to do more desk research. Veolia’s consultants need another three months to look at ecological data, much of which was available in 2006.They will not be carrying out any new fieldwork.
Even if the ‘bird issues’ that prompted the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to submit a late planning objection, can somehow be resolved in Veolia’s favour, there are many other serious challenges to their application. If Veolia decide to carry on then when the Inquiry reconvenes after Easter 2010, PAIN, the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, the RSPB, solicitors Irwin Mitchell (acting for the residents of Sherwood House), Newark & Sherwood District Council and possibly even Nottinghamshire County Council will all be presenting compelling evidence before the Planning Inspector in opposition to Veolia’s proposals .
Even if Veolia’s experts manage to survive the process of cross examination (where they will have to answer some tough questions about their standard of work), the second round would run for 4 – 5 weeks from 13th April, probably ending in the second week of May 2010. Then the Inspector would have to write his report to be sent to the Secretary of State, and this could take 4 – 6 months. And before the Secretary of State could decide the application all of the planning conditions and the Section 106 Agreement would also need to be in place. In short, there is little chance, even if things go their way, that Veolia could secure planning permission before September/October 2010.
The Waste PFI contract between Veolia and Nottinghamshire County Council, valued at £850 million, that was signed on 26th June 2006, was structured as two contracts. Contract A relates to waste services apart from the proposed incinerator. Contract B relates only to the proposed incinerator. Unless the date has been renegotiated, if planning permission is not in place by 31st May 2010, Contract B will be ‘null and void’. As the Inquiry is adjourned until 13th April 2010, with hearings expected to last at least 4 weeks, planning permission will not be in place by 31st May 2010.
So you could say that PAIN looks set to win the Public Inquiry. But as we have said before, PAIN is not interested in 'winning' the Public Inquiry. Instead of carrying on with this wasteful farce, PAIN calls upon Veolia's senior management to withdraw the application. PAIN calls upon Nottinghamshire County Council to sit down with us to discuss sensible plans for both waste management and moving forward with the Sherwood Forest Regional Park.
The sooner we leave behind the 'win-lose' mentality, the sooner we can work together to sort out this mess for everybody's benefit.
Thanks for that, Shlomo, and thanks for all your continuing hard work on these issues.
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