HIGH PROFILE SUPPORTER JOINS PEOPLE AGAINST INCINERATION

World famous naturalist David Bellemy has backed the local anti incineration group PAIN. (People Against Incineration, www.p-a-in.co.uk.) He joined PAIN because he believes that incineration of waste is not the answer. Bellamy endorses PAIN’s campaign for more environmentally friendly technology, such as Anaerobic Digestion, to replace the proposed incinerator. Protecting wildlife and woodland habitats, in and around the proposed site is of great concern to him.

MP for Sherwood Paddy Tipping will meet with PAIN representatives on Friday 18th January 2008, to discuss his demand for a public enquiry into Veolia’s proposal for a 210,000 tonne capacity waste incinerator to be located on the old Rufford Colliery carpark, a greenfield site due to be restored to heathland and woodland..
On Thursday 17th January 2008 members of the public are welcome to attend a PAIN meeting at Potters Snooker Hall, Kirklington Road, Rainworth. The meeting starts at 7pm and will address questions about the planning application and the permit application. Naturally, David Bellemy’s morale-boosting support will be formally announced and heartily celebrated.
If Veolia and Nottinghamshire County Council get their way, the incinerator facility could soon be followed by an incinerator ash processing facility that would take contaminated ash from other Veolia incinerators around the UK.
Objection to the planning application for the 210,000 tonne per year waste incinerator facility include the following points.
• The fact that the facility is not now required due to falling waste and increased recycling figures
• Material that could be recycled / composted (such as kitchen waste and plastic bags) should be composted and recycled, not burnt
• Burning creates dangerous extra problems such as toxic ash, dioxins and ultra-fine particles (PM2’s) which are know to cause cancer and numerous health hazards, in addition to climate change gases (CO2)
• For every tonne of waste burnt, one tonne of CO2 is released into the atmosphere
• The two proposed chimneys would be viewable due to their height for a considerable distance, for instance: Bilsthorpe; Scarcliffe; Whaley; Holbeck; Thorsby; Wellow; Kersal; Normanton; Calverton; Blidworth; Annesley Woodhouse; Pleasley; Glapwell; Langwith; Bolsover; Mansfield; Rainworth; Meden Vale; Ollerton and New Ollerton, Clipstone and New Clipstone; Walesby; Sutton-in-Ashfield; and parts of Arnold and Southwell
• If the incinerator were built it would scupper plans to establish a Sherwood Regional Park and to further enhance the landscape of this area
• Our drinking water will be made vulnerable to possible contamination through poisons entering the aquifer and local water courses like Rainworth Water
• The proposal also endangers nearby woodland on this greenfield site, including Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and the local Rainworth nature reserve and heathland, damaging delicate and rare habitats and reducing biodiversity