A former Tory councillor – and Mayor of Wisbech – has described MP Steve Barclay as being ‘untrustworthy and manipulative’ for suggesting Cambridgeshire County Council Fenland District Council and other Cambridgeshire local authorities could send waste to the proposed new mega incinerator proposed for Wisbech.
Andrew Lynn said that the county council “still have 13 years on a contract with Waterbeach for our waste disposal’ and they cannot decide to use this incinerator (at Wisbech) even if they wanted to and he damn well knows it; again, he shows how untrustworthy and manipulative he is”.
Mr Lynn responded on Facebook after he was one of many to receive an email from Mr Barclay before Christmas re-iterating that “I am strongly opposed to the Wisbech incinerator and remain committed to campaigning against this threat to our community.
“These proposals would involve over 300 lorry movements a day, bringing both household and commercial waste from up to a 2 hours’ drive away to a mega incinerator located 500m from the largest secondary school. This is a stupid idea.
“With that in mind, I am asking all councillors and candidates in next year’s election to sign a pledge to the people of Fenland that they will not vote for or support in any way the use of the Wisbech Incinerator”.
Mr Barclay wrote: “If Cambridgeshire County Council, Fenland District Council, and other local authorities refuse to send waste to the Wisbech incinerator.
“This will undermine the business case for investment funding for construction of the incinerator. Many incinerators elsewhere that have received planning approval have still not been constructed, and we should do all we can to ensure this is the case in Wisbech.
“I will also be liaising with MPs in other counties to seek such a commitment from their local authorities too.”
Cambridgeshire County Council has a 28-year Private Finance Initiative contract with Thalia at Waterbeach that started in 2008 and includes the treatment and disposal of black sack/residual waste, composting of garden and food waste collected by the districts, 2 transfer stations at Alconbury and March and the management of the 9 Household Recycling Centres.
Thalia Waste Management provides a complete waste management service for Cambridgeshire County Council on its 400-acre Waste Management Park at Waterbeach and processes more than 300,000 tonnes of waste each year. PHOTO: Terry HarrisThalia Waste Management provides a complete waste management service for Cambridgeshire County Council on its 400-acre Waste Management Park at Waterbeach and processes more than 300,000 tonnes of waste each year.
A second criticism of Mr Barclay has come from Whittlesey independent councillor Eamonn Dorling.
He said: “I realise my opinion on the Wisbech incinerator is not accepted by many, (I support the facility with modern controls and logistics), but the recent ‘round robin’ message from our MP Steve Barclay is biased and ignores his stance when he was actively involved as the environment head before he headed for the back benches.
“I know he is fed advice from the Conservative Wisbech mafia, but the BBC investigation saying that an incinerator is little better than a coal power station, ignores some important issues:
“Firstly, plastic is either set alight or dumped in landfill (the latter does not solve the plastic issue – it merely delays the decomposition and carbon release over many years).
A second criticism of Mr Barclay has come from Whittlesey independent councillor Eamonn Dorling.“Secondly, incineration can produce as much carbon dioxide as putting it in a hole, but incineration provided electricity than landfill fails to provide. Finally, a well-designed incinerator can scrub the emissions to reduce CO2 now that modern technology has improved.”
Cllr Dorling added: “My point is that our MP has introduced none of the better standards such as reduction, repurposing and recycling that can effectively reduce the plastic problem.
“Nothing in his communication from the uneducated to the irresponsible will stop plastic getting dumped in our landfill or international seas.
“He indicated support to recycling when proposed by a prominent Whittlesey Councillor but has done nothing to support him.”
Mr Barclay persists in claiming the new Wisbech incinerator could be used by Cambridgeshire councils and wants the public to know where candidates stand in next year’s local elections to stop the incinerator being used by Cambridgeshire councils.
And he has published a list of “those who have signed and those who have refused so that voters across Cambridgeshire have this information”.
Have signed to say they WILL NOT vote or use the Incinerator in Wisbech if built
Cambridgeshire County Council Conservatives (also FDC)
Cllr Chris Boden
Cllr David Connor
Cllr Steve Count
Cllr Janet French
Cllr John Gowing
Cllr Anne Hay
Cllr Samantha Hoy
Cllr Simon King
Cllr Steven Tierney
Fenland District Council Conservatives
Cllr Brenda Barber
Cllr Ian Benney
Cllr James Carney
Cllr Gary Christy
Cllr Sam Clark
Cllr Mrs Maureen Davis
Cllr Mrs Lucie Foice-Beard
Cllr Miss Kim French
Cllr Alan Gowler
Cllr Stuart Harris
Cllr Michael Humphrey
Cllr Sidney Imafidon
Cllr Mrs Dee Laws
Cllr Charlie Marks
Cllr Nick Meekins
Cllr Alex Miscandlon
Cllr Jason Mockett
Cllr Peter Murphy
Cllr Dr Haq Nawaz
Cllr Dave Oliver
Cllr Mark Purser
Cllr Billy Rackley
Cllr Christopher Seaton
Cllr Elisabeth Clough
Cllr Gurninder Singh Gill
Cllr Tim Taylor
Cllr Susan Wallwork
Cllr Andrew Woollard
Liberal Democrats
Cllr Diane Cutler
No response received to date
Cambridgeshire County Council Independents
Cllr Stephen Ferguson
Cllr Keith Prentice
Cllr Tom Sanderson
Cllr Ryan Fuller
Cllr Jonas King
Cllr Joshua Schumann
Cllr Simone Taylor
Labour
Cllr Gerri Bird
Cllr Mike Black
Cllr Alex Bulat
Cllr Nick Gay
Cllr Bryony Goodliffe
Cllr Richard Howitt
Cllr Elisa Meschini
Cllr Catherine Rae
Cllr Neil Shailer
Liberal Democrats
Cllr Michael Atkins
Cllr Henry Batchelor
Cllr Alex Beckett
Cllr Anna Bradnam
Cllr Piers Coutts
Cllr Claire Dauton
Cllr Douglas Dew
Cllr Lorna Dupré
Cllr Neil Gough
Cllr Ros Hathorn
Cllr Sebastian Kindersley
Cllr Maria King
Cllr Peter McDonald
Cllr Brian Milnes
Cllr Edna Murphy
Cllr Lucy Nethsingha
Cllr Philippa Slatter
Cllr Firouz Thompson
Cllr Susan van de Ven
Cllr Alison Whelan
Cllr Graham Wilson
Cllr Andrew Wood
Cllr Geoffrey Seeff
Fenland District Council
Independents
Cllr John Clark
Cllr Roy Gerstner
Cllr Paul Hicks
Cllr David Patrick
Cllr Dal Roy
Cllr Matthew Summers
Liberal Democrats
Cllr Gavin Booth
Mr Barclay added: “Last month, new evidence revealed that waste incinerators are now as dirty as coal power, raising new questions over the future of the Wisbech incinerator.
“The UK has improved at recycling certain types of waste, such as food, which is now increasingly being sent to anaerobic digesters or composted.”
