Assessment vital so let’s have an inquiry
AT long last it looks like the Vale of Glamorgan Council is being given the advice that the Docks Incinerator Action Group (DIAG) has been offering for so long.
After all this time the advice is that the Aviva Biomass Incinerator needed an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before it could be granted planning permission.
Put another way, the planning permission was granted against the legal requirements and with no regard for public health.
Unfortunately for the residents of Barry this is tied up with continuing bad advice. There is outstanding a planning application for a water tower and parking, both of which are needed for the incinerator to operate. The Vale is being advised by its officers that this will not need an EIA.
Will it take another four years for the Vale to catch up with DIAG? Of course the outstanding application should be subjected to a full EIA.
When the Vale purported to grant planning permission back in 2015 it made it clear that if the developer went ahead and built before everything was in place then it did so at its own risk. Dealing with the need for a full EIA that is meant to protect our health was one such risk the developer took. Now it needs to comply with the law even if it requires the dismantling and removal of its monstrosity.
An independent inquiry should now be set up to identify where this all went wrong so as to avoid a repeat of this long period of worry for the residents. It was made clear to the Welsh Government back in 2009 that this type of development should have an EIA but the politicians decided differently. It must have been obvious to the Vale officers, NRW and the developer that an EIA was a prerequisite. Why didn’t anybody say so? Why are all these people (especially those whose wages are paid by us) so above the law that they never have to explain their mistakes? Paul Robertson Barry