CBOA calls for green transport solution to ash recycling plan
REPRESENTATIVES of freight barge operators have claimed their call for talks about carrying ash by water has fallen on deaf ears.
Plans to extract up to 1m tonnes of ash a year from the Gale Common site near Selby were due to go before North Yorkshire County Council on July 21. The pile was created by ash from the now closed Ferrybridge and Eggborough power stations and can be used in concrete making and other applications.
But the Commercial Boat Operators Association (CBOA) has accused developers EP UK Investments Ltd of not engaging with them about alternatives to transporting all the ash by road.
CBOA claims it could result in 400 20-tonne trucks a day on Yorkshire’s crowded roads, with a heavy lorry passing through Whitley, near Selby, every two-and-a-half minutes. An alternative to lorries could be the use of barges, each carrying 500 tonnes.
Gale Common Ash Disposal site is close enough to the Aire & Calder Navigation that a conveyor belt can be used to take the ash, which would then be loaded direct into large bins on a flatbed pontoon barge. This happens in Belgium.
The applicant has stated that under the right circumstances, the canal could provide a transport solution: “It is our intention to give this matter further serious consideration after planning permission is hopefully granted for the project.”
But according to CBOA this will be too late. It argues that the planning authority should have a detailed analysis of the road and water transport options before making a decision.
Chairman David Lowe said: “We think recycling this enormous ash pile is a good concept. The green thinking behind that needs to be applied to also produce a green transport solution. The owners’ attitude forces us to ask the planners to make sure we have a discussion which can make a drastic difference to the lives of local people.”
CBOA has long pointed out the environmental benefits of using water freight – and in reducing road congestion. The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change (Manchester University) reported that CO2 from barges can be 25% of that produced by lorries. Other emissions – such as nitrous oxide – are less.
Even if a lorry was to be wholly electric based, there would still be dangerous particulates from brake pads, tyre wear and road surface wear and congestion, none of which arise from using barges.