WFOE objects to High Heavens Waste Transfer Station (September 2011)

Wycombe Friends of the Earth submitted the following objection to the recent planning application.

We object to this application because:

1. The proposal involves a significant extra number of HGV movements to / from the site. Before they reach more suitable roads and the strategic route network, they have no option other than to use a residential road or narrow rural roads, with consequent noise and disturbance to residents and extra hazard.

and

2. When considered in conjunction with the EFW facility which it will serve, the choice of site cannot be justified when measured against two key policy objectives: minimising the distance waste and recyclables are transported, and maximising the use of rail transport to carry bulk waste.

Even if one supports a strategy based on a single large EFW facility served by a number of transfer stations [we don't], it is nonsensical:

a) to locate the EFW facility in the part of the county furthest from where most of the waste arises, thus inevitably increasing the distance waste needs transporting; even if sorting and recycling facilities are located alongside the incinerator to prevent recyclables being lost to incineration, the reverse flows of recycled materials are also likely to be further from the market. As fuel costs rise, not only will an unnecessary waste of energy occur, but the financial cost borne by the industry will also become an increasing burden;

b) to then effectively render valueless one attribute Calvert has in its favour, namely its adjacence to a railway line, by not requiring the other end of the waste transfer route to also be located on a rail route;

c) to site the EFW facility where there is no sensible complementary user for the heat, thus grossly reducing energy efficiency.

The national and local policy framework against which this application should be assessed, including the recent National Waste Policy Review, and the Bucks Minerals and Waste Core Strategy currently out for consultation, include policies on the above topics: sticking wherever possible to the strategic road network, locating facilities as close as possible to where the waste streams arise, seeking use of non-road modes of transport, maximising the efficiency of EFW through well thought out CHP schemes. Since, therefore, this application signally fails to comply with these policy requirements, it must be refused.
 

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