John Preston writes on the Incinerator debate

John puts the case against the proposed Incinerator for King's Lynn

Ray,

Regarding your comments regarding the incinerator ballot in last months pump. I've copied below an article from EDP24 which speaks for itself as regards the company (Cory Wheelerbrator) and NCC's mendacity. You stated the description of the proposed development as a "Mass Burn Incinerator" was inaccurate. Criticism of this wording was used by Cory Wheelerbrator to discredit the poll. My wife Carol has trawled through endless NCC minutes to find "incinerator" has generally been the word used to describe this plant. To describe the plant as "Energy from waste plant" is in my opinion the usual greenwash

1. It removes the unpopular word "Incinerator" from the title. It will in fact incinerate waste so why not name it for what it is

2. "Energy from Waste" a questionable assertion, if an energy audit includes. transportation of the fuel (Trash), running of the plant, the manufacture of materials destroyed in the incineration, and the treatment of Cancers, birth, deformities and respiratory ailments resulting from the fallout we may find a net energy loss. Furthermore useful resources are destroyed and turned into toxic ash most of which goes to landfill despite the glowing claims of corporate spin that this is reused as aggregate.

independent environmental consultant, Simon Hughes, spoke out in the EDP (29/01/11). He explains electricity from the incinerator will not be used in nearby homes (as shown in NCC pamphlets) Source KLWIN website

"Waste of Energy" or "Waste of Money" are perhaps more accurate terms.

Cory were always going to find a way to undermine the validity of a ballot that was likely to go against them. I think we were all surprised at the strength of feeling. A very high turn out 61% voted and from those who voted 92% voted No Incinerator, 65,000 people and Norfolk County Council chose to ignore us and sign a contract with Cory Wheelerbrator guaranteeing them up to 20 million quid should their enterprise fail. You can see now that we the council tax payers are underwriting the whole campaign.

Please read on, and if you feel moved write to your MP, councillor, Prime Minister etc. and visit the KLWIN website

A tale of spin behind the scenes - Cory Wheelabrator's £140 an hour PR consultants warned that yesterday's announcement would be "critical to (the) overall credibility of the project and its management team, if not the final result of the planning application". A report by Paul Kelly, of the PPS Group, says the pro-incinerator camp should not appear "high-handed" to the people of West Norfolk. "The media and other stakeholders will want to know the sequence and detail of events," it says. "We need to decide what they can be told and whether we will agree such lines to take with the council first or act unilaterally." PPS suggested ways in which Cory Wheelabrator's refusal to take part in the council poll could be spun. "We need to suggest that our absence from the referendum undermines the moral value of it and that it carries no legal value in any event," notes Mr Kelly. Of its own survey, carried out by researchers ComRes, it notes: "We might want to offer the borough council a chance to see our research results (depending how they look). We might extend this to the local MPs." PPS is charging Cory Wheelabrator £140 an hour to monitor the media, "rebut negative stories" and advise on strategy. In one e-mail accompanying details of its proposed charges, its director Rebecca Eatwell says: "We'd be more than happy to discuss a success-related bonus for this work going forward, if that is of interest."

Source www.edp24.co.uk/news/environment/king

Regards

John Preston