Incinerator concerns

Sir - As the Liberal Democrat borough councillors for Wootton and Stewartby, we would like to publically communicate our concerns to Covanta for its proposal to build a very large incinerator in Rookery Pit near Stewartby.

The concerns are that the incinerator is in the wrong place. It is going to be burning rubbish from Buckinghamshire and at least six other councils, but not from Bedford. There will be an absolutely massive environmental impact due to the 600,000 tonnes of waste Covanta will have to burn each year. The Covanta proposal means one lorry every minute driving through our villages.

There will be nearly 550 tonnes of ash that needs transporting away every day, containing heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, lead and arsenic, among others.

The emissions from the incinerator will affect a radius of up to 15 miles. This will affect people living in Stewartby, Wootton, Bedford, Kempston, Milton Keynes, as well as thousands of other homes in the surrounding villages.

Buckinghamshire residents said they didn’t want it near where they lived. So the Tory-controlled Buckinghamshire County Council decided it should go outside of their area. Buckinghamshire County Council should find a local answer to dealing with its own waste and leave us to find our own.

When incinerators are being closed down in America because of the danger of dioxins and other toxic pollutants, why is this proposal even being considered? Under the new Mayor, Dave Hodgson, Bedford Borough is looking for a better, healthier and more cost effective way of dealing with its waste. Mechanical biological treatment is a much more efficient, healthier and environmentally friendly option than the incinerator that both Tory-controlled Buckinghamshire and Central Bedfordshire Councils want to use.

We encourage all local residents to register their objections with both Covanta and the Infrastructure Planning Commission.

We have also set up a Facebook page for local people to voice their concerns and post their support for our campaign. Just type in ‘Covanta’ in the Facebook search box.