Developers behind plans to build a waste incinerator in South East Leeds have been criticised for not consulting residents with the plans.
And councillors hearing a pre-application presentation by the applicants expressed concerns about the number of HGVs and extra traffic the Energy from Waste Facility on the site of the former Skelton Grange Power Station would generate.
Applicant Biffa Waste Services also angered councillors in Civic Hall plans meeting when they said they would give in the region of £750,000 towards a community fund over the lifetime of the planned facility - but only if they didn't have to go to appeal should the application be refused.
East plans committee chairman David Congreve told a delegation of Biffa representatives:
"I take exception to that comment. The delivery of a community facility should not be reliant on going to appeal. You are saying you are going to buy this application and I take issue with that. We will not be bought."
Biffa project planning manager Mike Harty told the meeting that he had not meant the comment to sound like a threat. He added:
"I am not trying to buy anybody."
Concerns over vehicle movements
Congreve also questioned the number of vehicle movements coming to and from the development, and how developers would solve the issues of transporting waste from different parts of the city while avoiding the city centre.
He added:
"My ward, Beeston, is awash with vehicles avoiding the city centre. I do not hold that it will just be existing vehicles using the facilities.
"The public needs to know in simple language that they are not at risk and their health is not at risk. This development is in an area where life expectancy is 10 years less than places like Bramhope."
Congreve pointed to the serious health problems of people in the area, such as a high number of heart attacks and problems such as asthma. He added:
"Whether the dangers are imaginary or not, people need to be reassured. You need to focus on consulting with local people, rather than putting out glossy leaflets. You need to send envoys out into the community and meet with local groups."
5,000 leaflets and adverts in the press invited people to a public exhibition held in June, which was attended by 50 people. Biffa said the plans had 'generally been well received' by people at the event.
Harty told the meeting that the new facility would process 300,000 tonnes per year of non-hazardous commercial waste on the site of the former coal-fired power station. He said the environment would benefit as the waste would normally go to landfill.
Pollution and air quality issues were also raised, but councillors were told that the facility would be required to work within statutory emission limits and UK Air Quality Standards that are protective of human health and that there would be continuous monitoring of emissions. They were also told that there was no credible evidence that similar facilities had impacted on people's health.
Access 'will avoid housing'
Harty said that access to the site would avoid housing and that there would be less traffic than the planned industrial units and warehouses that already have planning permission for the same site. He added:
"It is away from residential properties, we believe it is an ideal site for waste facilities."
Harty said the flagship building would be 'high-quality bespoke design' sitting in extensively landscaped grounds and would include educational and visitor facilities. It would create 40 jobs, and 300 construction jobs. He added:
"It could have been a big box but I realise that would not have been acceptable."
Biffa were subjected to a number of questions and comments by Temple Newsam ward councillor Mick Lyons, who was concerned whether there was enough waste in Leeds to support both this scheme and the planned council incinerator in East Leeds. He questioned whether waste would be brought in from further afield.
Harty said there was more than enough commercial and industrial waste in Leeds and that it wouldn't be necessary to bring in waste from further afield. He said the council's planned PFI-financed incinerator would deal with household waste, which was seperate to what Biffa was interested in.
Lyons added:
"In my opinion there is not enough business and household waste in Leeds to keep both facilities going. You have got to keep it going 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
Harty said he was confident it could be achieved, but added the incinerator could cope with a reduced capacity.
Councillor Peter Gruen added:
"I am really quite skeptical in undertsanding the implication of this application and the one the council has been working on nearby. I do not understand the connectivity of the two. Is it helpful to have the two combined or are two seperate ones better. Which is more harmful to the community?"
Councillor Robert Finnegan suggested councillors visited similar facilities in other parts of the country to find out more.
Harty added that work could start next year and, with a three-year building programme, could be finished by 2014/15.
Campaigners attend meeting
The meeting was attended by members of the No2Incinerator campaign who are concerned about this proposal and the council's plans for an incinerator at one of two sites nearby in East Leeds.
After the meeting, a spokeswoman said she still had a lot of unanswered questions, such as how regulated the facility would be.
She added: "They seem to think they have done their public consultation, but they haven't. We are not satisfied the way they have approached this.
"Leeds has got the Victoria Quarter and the finance quarter, over my dead body will they turn my community into 'incinerator quarter'."
No2incinerator is holding a second public meeting on this issue on 13 September, at 7pm at Richmond Hill Primary School, Clark Crescent. You can read a report on the first meeting in June from Guardian Leeds here.
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