CONTROVERSIAL plans to build a new waste site near Stonehouse have been defended by the county council's cabinet member for the environment. Cllr Stan Waddington said the proposed plant at Javelin Park off the B4006 would have no effect on residents' health and would help Gloucestershire County Council avoid multi-million-pound landfill fines. "There are no issues concerned with toxic emissions," he said. "We have to meet very stringent environmental regulations. "There's a plant at Portsmouth next to a bakery and the only thing you can smell is bread." He also rebutted claims that waste would be imported from around Britain. "The only waste we will deal with is Gloucestershire's waste," he said. "We've got enough problems to solve as it is without saying that everybody can use the plant." He said a new waste plant was urgently needed to cut the amount of waste sent to landfill and avoid serious taxes and fines. Gloucestershire buries 200,000 tonnes of waste a year and pays £32 a tonne in landfill tax. The authority could face EU fines of £150 per tonne of waste buried by 2011 with the possibility of paying millions by 2013. Cllr Waddington said while recycling was essential - the council eventually aims to recycle 60% of its waste by 2010 - it is not enough on its own so other ways of diverting waste from landfill have to be introduced. "If we can't get through to the hearts and minds of people, there's a limit to how far recycling can go," he said. He said a waste disposal facility was likely to be built at Javelin Park because it is a site allocated in the waste local plan 2004, which has been approved by Government. "It's the best site in Gloucestershire because of it proximity to the motorway and its proximity to the major conurbation of Gloucester and Cheltenham," he explained. "We're now negotiating to purchase part of the site." He said councillors had not decided the type of technology, but he favoured a gassification process where waste in heated in low oxygen conditions to produce gas to generate electricity. This is not incineration - there are five types of technology and gassification is different to incineration. The council applied two weeks ago for circa £6.9 million per annum government funding and hopes to go out to tender to find a waste technology solution in the autumn. The waste site is expected to be set up in 2015 and to last until 2040.

9:00am Saturday 10th May 2008

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