Incinerator plan gains approval
Go ahead for waste burner, despite residents’ fears
A HUGE waste incinerator plant in West Berkshire has moved a step closer.
The plans were approved at last Wednesday’s West Berkshire Council eastern area planning committee.
The application site is on land next to Reading Quarry at Berry’s Lane, Pingewood, and is just inside West Berkshire Council’s administrative area.
Objecting to the plant, which would burn 150,000 tonnes of waste, Graham Hudson from Reading Friends of the Earth said: “At the climate conference in 2019 at West Berkshire Council there was no mention of an incinerator in West Berkshire.
“With C02 emissions its quite clear than 150,000 tonnes per annum is a lot of carbon dioxide.
“This does not fit within the climate idea of the council.”
The plant, with 50m-high chimneys, was described as an “exciting opportunity” for the district, bringing up to 50 jobs with it.
Alan Macro (Lib Dem,
Theale) said: “Some of our waste is going as far as Essex and East Sussex, so there is a need for this, but the concern is the height of the chimneys at 50 metres.”
Ross Mackinnon (Con, Bradfield) said: “I’m concerned about the visual impact of this. Residents are rightly concerned about the health impacts.
“There seems very little to go on here. I’m not supportive of this.”
But the committee voted in a majority to push the plans through, although a final decision on the plant is likely to be made by the Government.
There are already dozens of objections from local residents – with some claiming the applicant should reimburse them for the loss of value on their homes if it is built.
Others says they live a few hundred metres away from the proposed site and fear that air pollutants from the incinerator will contaminate their home-grown food and cause cancer.
Residents nearer Reading say the site should be put in the middle of West Berkshire – not near them.
Energy from it will be turned into electricity for the National Grid.
The proposal from J Mould claims the incinerator – which it is called an energy recovery centre – will complement existing waste and recycling facilities in West Berkshire.
Residents are rightly concerned about the health impacts