Calvert Incinerator planning application

The Calvert Incinerator planning application is due to be considered by Bucks County Council's Development Control Committee at Stoke Mandeville Stadium on 14th Feb 2012.
Unfortunately it was decided that local District Councillors would have no specific right to speak at this meeting, so I have registered to attend and speak as a member of the public.

An excellent summary of the arguments against the application were submitted to the County Council by AVDC last year:


1. That the proposal conflicts with policies 10, 11 and 17 of the Buckinghamshire
Minerals and Waste Local Plan in that the need for a single energy from waste
plant, of the scale being proposed, to serve Buckinghamshire has not been
established and that proposals for the recycling of waste have not been fully
evaluated and incorporated into the scheme. Further the proposal does not
conform with the proximity principle nor has it adequately addressed the waste
hierarchy principles set out in PPS 10.


2. That the proposal conflicts with policy 19 of the Buckinghamshire Minerals and
Waste Local Plan and PPS 10 in that it would be visually harmful and fail to
ensure the long term restoration of the Calvert Landfill Site.


3. That the proposed plant would constitute an urban and visually intrusive feature in an area of quiet rural landscape harming views across in conflict with advice in
PPS7.


4. That the proposed plant would harm the settings of the Grade II Listed Lower
Greatmoor Farmhouse and Finmerehill House in conflict with advice in PPS5.


5. That the proposed access road to the site would cause serious harm to the
populations of Black Hairstreak butterflies, Bechstein Bats and other protected
species that currently populate the disused railway line between the A41 and the
site; that inadequate surveys have been carried out to fully assess the impact of the
development on biodiversity, in conflict with advice in PPS9.


6. That the proposed access road and noise and general disturbance engendered by its
use by heavy goods vehicles would conflict with policy GP8 of the Aylesbury
Vale Local Plan and would reduce the level of residential amenities to nearby
dwellings to a level below that which they could reasonably expect to enjoy.

It is hard to think of a more unsuitable location for an incinerator than one surrounded by sites of special scientific interest of national importance, at the other end of the county from where most of the waste is produced, with no suitable or adequate access roads, and less than 15 miles from another 300,000 tonne incinerator which has just been given planning permission. To add insult to injury, although it is located right next to a railway line there are no plans under the current contract to bring in any of the waste by rail.