by
Christian Taylor
SURREY'S
draft Deposit Structure Plan 'Invites incinerators' to the county, the chairman
of the Guildford Anti Incinerator Network (GAIN) has said.
Colin
Matthews also said it was time to 'defend Slyfield again' - one of the most
contested planning applications in England's history and that the Structure
Plan signals the start of a second marathon battle against incinerators In
Surrey.
He
said: 'The draft Structure Plan is completely unacceptable. They are changing the rulebook as if to pave
the way for incinerators in locations like Guildford. We must object now and
get crucial document changed.
But
a spokeswoman from Surrey County Council immediately denied that it is tacitly
welcoming energy from waste facilities by not ruling the incineration out in
its 25-year strategic plan - consultations on which ended today (Friday).
She
explained: 'There Is flawed reasoning to GAIN's statements. It is 25 steps ahead of itself. Of course
the Structure Plan does not rule out incineration. It is a 25-year strategic plan and it would be foolhardy to say
that Surrey will never have an incinerator.
But it would be wrong to assume that we would welcome incinerators with
open arms.'
GAIN
called an emergency meeting last week and the county council was said to be
'blatantly ignoring public opinion'.
Objecting
to the Structure Plan, members claimed that the county gives a "favourable
treatment" to incineration, is biased towards building facilities such as
incinerators near population centres and said that the county has "no
serious intention' to reduce the amount of waste Surrey produces.
Mr
Matthews said at the meeting: 'Surrey County Council retains £100 million of Private
Finance Initiative funding, which could fund our programme of recycling and
composting initiatives.
"Unfortunately,
it is only making available £500,000 for these initiatives and appears to be
saving the £100 million for mass burn incinerators.
“An incinerator free approach is available,
affordable and sustainable. It is now simply a case of whether Surrey has the
political will to deliver what residents want.'
However,
the county spokeswoman said that the £100 million was the total 25-year allocation
for Surrey and will be used for capital investment in All waste facilities'.
She
added: "We invite everyone's views and they are free to apply to be part
of the Examination in Public in November.
'In
the meantime we are constantly working with the 11 boroughs and districts on
the Joint Municipal Waste Strategy and do not intend to cut anybody including
GAIN, out of the loop.'
© Surrey Advertiser 21 February 2003