‘Use green barges to transport ash’
WATER: The trade body for barge operators says developers need to prove why clean, green transport cannot be used for a huge 25-year project in North Yorkshire.
EP UK Investments is applying to North Yorkshire County Council to extract up to a million tonnes a year of fly ash from two power stations.
THE TRADE body for barge operators says developers need to prove why clean, green transport cannot be used for a huge 25-year project in North Yorkshire.
EP UK Investments is applying to North Yorkshire County Council to extract up to a million tonnes a year of fly ash from the closed coal-fired Eggborough and Ferrybridge C power stations, which is stored at Gale Common.
It currently has permission to remove 30,000 tonnes a year of the ash, which can be used in breeze blocks, cement and road construction.
Some nearby residents have raised concerns that it will mean as many as 260 lorry movements a day travelling on local roads, before they head north on the A19 to the M62.
John Dodwell, from the Commercial Boat Operators’ Association, said further down the Aire and Calder Navigation at Pollington, there are concrete-making factories which use ash, along with sand and other aggregates.
The ash – which could be put on a conveyor belt going under the M62 to get to the Aire and Calder Navigation – could also travel by barge to Leeds and Goole and towards Wakefield, Rotherham and Gainsborough.
Mr Dodwell has written to planners at North Yorkshire County Council, raising questions over the planning application. He said: “The developers suggest using the road is the only viable option.
“I think the planners should ask the developers to go back and do the costings of the various transport options. The developers need to provide the evidence to show why they can’t use clean green transport.”
Mr Dodwell said just one 600-tonne barge could take 22 27-tonne HGVs off the roads, while dramatically reducing the amount of carbon dioxide emissions. He added: “Even if lorry engines improve and were to be wholly electric based, there would still be dangerous particulates from brake pads, tyre wear and road surface wear. None of these arise from using barges.
“Congestion on local roads would not be reduced by electric lorries – only by using barges.”
Whitley parish councillor Tim Woodhead said transporting the ash via the canal network would be a “perfect solution”.
He said people’s main concern was the number of vehicles and emissions, adding: “Most of the support is from parents who bring children to the primary school, which is just 60 metres from the roadside.”
Heck parish council has also objected raising concerns over traffic, pollution from HGV diesel fumes, adding that it would recommend “considering using the canal as a greener option”.
Last week Defra Junior Minister Rebecca Pow said during a debate about restoring canals, that they were a “huge asset” as the country moves towards net zero and cleaner air.
She added: “We are starting to realise that canals can have a rebirth as transport links.”
EPUKI’s website states that extraction will continue for 25 years with “assumed export by road, owing to the nature and location of customers”.
EPUKI said: “Our ‘Transport: Alternatives Options Report’, was submitted to North Yorkshire County Council and shared on our website in December 2019.
“The report considers a number of different transport options and includes some projected costings.”
Head of planning services at NYCC Vicky Perkin said: “Every planning application is carefully considered in every detail and all submissions in relation to the application are taken into account before a decision is made”.
Congestion on local roads would not be reduced by electric lorries.
John Dodwell, from the Commercial Boat Operators’ Association.