Guide on the new ‘consultation’

Cardiff Against the Incinerator

Guide on the new ‘consultation’

Dear Friend,

CATI and our lawyers have found formal errors in the new 'consultation'; as we wait for the Council to correct them, the 26th December deadline for responses is invalid. But we'd like our supporters to write/e-mail back short responses, using points below.

Most important is that the Council conceded in response to our lawyers' deadline, that 'enforcement' to stop Viridor is on the Agenda for the 9^th January Planning C'ttee Meeting.

We have to pay for our lawyers so far and expect they'll have to take legal action after 9th January. They set us to raise £3000 (not as much as other groups).  CATI would be most grateful for donations, as below, and will need to fundraise further in the New Year

Points to make in responding

1. welcome the prospect of the Council taking enforcement action to halt Viridor's unlawful building works

2. note that Viridor's 23^rd Nov. responses do not address all the issues raised by the consultants Atkins (on the paper file but not the e-file), particularly that potentially hazardous bottom ash could not be processed as the planning consent requires, and that health hazards of fugitive dust from processing/handling the bottom ash have not been assessed.

3. note the site is in a flood-risk zone (B - low risk) and Viridor accepts there's a risk of storm flooding, contrary to the officers' report that flooding is not an issue.

4. point out possible impact on the Severn Estuary resulting from accidental discharges has not been assessed,despite legal requirements, including flooding of the incinerator site

5. point out the Council's letter to Viridor (2^nd November, wrongly omitted from the e-file) said the Council would require responses based on the Atkins analysis, but responses on hazardous bottom ash and dust blown from this ash are not available

6. say the Council should formally write to Viridor demanding full responses and defer determination of the Subsequent Applications. 

Responses to Cardiff Council, Development Manager, City Hall CF10 3ND].

E-responses to developmentmanagement@cardiff.gov.uk; view documents on-line (no easy read!) athttp://planning.cardiff.gov.uk/online-applications/ ref. 10/00149/E, Trident Park.

CARDIFF COUNCIL TO PAY £166 A TONNE while other Councils pay only £56

Prosiect Gwyrdd Rip off to pay far over the going price for Waste Incineration.

CARDIFF COUNCIL TO PAY £166 A TONNE while other Councils pay only  £56 

and to pay this rip off price for 25 years!

Prosiect Gwyrdd (Project Green) rip off applies to all partnership councils  

1. Cardiff Council, 
2. Caerphilly County Borough Council, 
3. Monmouthshire County Council, 
4. Newport City Council and 
5. Vale of Glamorgan Council.

The official survey by WRAP - 2012 Gate Fees Report *- finds that

the median gate fee for energy-from-waste incineration is £65 per tonne The lowest PFI-type incinerator contract has gate fee of £56 /tonne

In comparison PG calculated a 25-contract based on 2010 cost levels of £36.6 Million for 220 000 tonnes supplied to the incinerator (transport costs borne by the Councils). This means they were ready to pay £166 per tonne.

Why did PG think that was a good deal?  Not just that they wanted an incinerator built in South Wales, but it was based on PFI-costs in England, which have high bank charges.  Their scheme would rip-off Council taxpayers and provide cut-price capacity for businesses at similar rates to those reported by WRAP

Face of Prosiect Gwyrdd
Ian Loyd Davis

Prosiect Gwyrdd excuse the 25 yr-long contract by saying we get a better price! The officers even guessed a 10-yr contract would be twice the price, before the WRAP figures came out.  The evidence of these figures is of a worse price.  Former PG Steering Cttee member, Caerphilly's Colin Mann, recently repeated this, so did he ever ask for evidence? Seems cllrs are being severely  'mislead' by Prosiect Gwyrdd people. 

No wonder Viridor is so keen to build an incinerator/gold mine in Cardiff and Veolia trying to build in Newport

The PG comparative cost per tonne is available from the annual 25% subsidy (index-linked ) approved by WAG of £9.124M in April 2009 (based on secret OBC ‘Health Check’ figures of 2010), making £36.5M total. For the 220 000t pa, this gives £166 per tonne, higher than the maximum £131/t for new PFI-incinerators given below.  WRAP warns that the £166 /t gate fee for PG may not be directly comparable with those at older incinerators (£32 - £101 /t).  Still £166 /t compares badly with comparison with Defra-agreed PFI schemes of £56-102 /t (median £76 /t).

 Table 1   

EfW                 Pre-2000 facilities                   £64  median                            £32 to £75 range 

 Post-2000 facilities                 £82                                          £44 to £101

                         Defra Gate fee data [9]

             <200kt                                    £90                                          £79 to £131

  200kt to 300kt                       £76                                          £56 to £102

                         350kt to 450kt                        £68                                          £57 to £78

 [9]  Defra information on PPP/PFI projects that have reached contract closure in the last 5 years or are about to reach contractual close in the next 12 months.

*Download the full report - WRAP Gate Fees Report 2012

The Gate Fees report aims to raise price transparency and, through improving the flow of information, enhance the efficiency with which the waste management market operates.  A lack of market information may reduce a local authority's ability to make informed decisions on waste management options in terms of both economic and environmental costs.

Lawyers start on Court Action
CATI's environmental law firm, Buxton's, fired off two challenges today, Friday 7th, against the Council's new 'consultation' and demanding enforcement action to stop Viridor's construction. They gave the Council six days, otherwise High Court action.

IMPORTANT meeting of CATI on Monday
# to consider the Court action and publicity for it
# to discuss fund-raising in the community – volunteers please!

     At the Old Illts Club, Splott Bridge, 
                                           7pm Monday – DO JOIN US!

Cardiff Council re-issues Applications for Viridor Incinerator

Cardiff Council re-issues Applications for Viridor Incinerator

Applications issued in July to settle the planning pre-conditions were stalled due to substantial objections from CATI have just been re-issued for 21-day consultation (see ref. 10/00149/E onhttp://planning.cardiff.gov.uk/online-applications/). The Council’s consultants, Atkins, accepted that CATI’s objections are correct over the incinerator bottom ash being potentially hazardous so that the planned processing into building aggregate is excluded, but Viridor have not answered.  CATI’s objection over likely flooding of the site is also conceded – Viridor’s agents say they will store storm water in “low lying external site areas”  - but they propose no changes to meet the limits on discharges to sewer and overflows. 

CATI (Cardiff Against The Incinerator) says that Cardiff Council should now be obliged to halt Viridor’s unauthorised construction of the incinerator.  In July they promised “robust enforcement” against building before Conditions on the planning permission had been finalised, now let’s see it, says Max Wallis of CATI.