Incinerator fumes fear
Fears as pollution from Blantyre plant is expected to spread across six-mile radius
People in Rutherglen and Cambuslang could suffer pollution from a planned 90m incinerator chimney.
The incinerator, proposed for Whistleberry Road in Blantyre, has the potential to impact residents because emissions are expected to spread across a six-mile radius.
People in Rutherglen and Cambuslang will suffer pollution from a planned 90-metre tall incinerator, it has been claimed.
The incinerator, proposed for Whistleberry Road in Blantyre, has the potential to impact residents because emissions are expected to spread across a six mile radius.
Clean Power Properties submitted a planning application for an energy recovery centre to South Lanarkshire Council earlier this year.
It seeks permission to build a materials recovery plant and advanced thermal treatment facility with an integrated education and visitor centre.
But, as the reach of the pollution has become known, Halfway Community Council has joined its neighbours in fighting the plan.
Liisa Hepworth, secretary of Halfway Community Council, said: “Michael McGlynn, chairman of Blantyre Community Council, did a presentation at the emergency meeting held by Halfway Community Council this month.
“He told everyone about it. There were around 40 people at the meeting and they were really quite concerned about it.
“We agreed to go out with flyers and objection letters. We went around doors on Saturday and Margaret Ferrier came along to give her support.
“We are trying to tell people about the incinerator and what the impact of that will be.”
In the flyer issued to households in the Halfway and Newton areas of Cambuslang, the community council expresses concerns about the toxic fly ash, which they say is produced by modern incinerators, and the level of traffic it will add to roads in South Lanarkshire.
Campaigners have pointed out that once construction is completed, the development will only employ between 20 and 30 people in the long-term.
They also argue the incinerator would be included in home reports for houses being sold in the area.
A previous planning application to develop an energy recovery facility at the site of the former Craighead School was granted planning permission in 2015.
South Lanarkshire Council at that time refused the application. However, a decision was taken by the Scottish Government Reporter in 2015 to overturn that.
But Clean Power Properties recently submitted a new Proposal of Application Notice to South Lanarkshire Council.
A spokesman for the firm said: “Clean Power Properties has set out its proposals in the planning application submitted to South Lanarkshire Council. This is not a new proposal as the site already has planning consent for the generation of electricity from the thermal treatment of waste. The proposals will be fully compliant with all relevant regulations and subject to licensing by SEPA.
“We understand that there is concern in the local community over the processes involved in the proposals but this involves a proven technology which will reduce waste to landfill, treating waste in an effective and tested method and creating investment and local jobs.”