SERIOUS questions have been raised over Gloucestershire County Council’s willingness to fight the proposed Javelin Park incinerator after the inspector overseeing the planning inquiry into the £500 million project observed that the authority’s ‘substantive position’ was essentially the same as that of waste firm Urbaser Balfour Beatty.

After its planning committee unanimously refused UBB permission for the controversial facility in March, the county council passed a resolution promising to ‘robustly defend’ the decision of its members.

However, just before the start of the inquiry, which got underway yesterday (Tuesday, 18 November), it emerged that GCC was going to support the incinerator project near Haresfield, on the condition that the size of the facility was reduced.

The revelation that GCC has essentially U-turned on its pledge to oppose the scheme sparked anger amongst anti-incinerator campaigners, who had been led to believe that the authority would do its utmost to defend the decision of its planning committee.

A spokesman for GlosVAIN described GCC’s reversal as a ‘massive slap in the face’.

The county council’s stance was thrown into stark relief after the inspector hearing the appeal Brian Cook, issued a note to the parties involved in proceedings on Friday (November 15).

In his note, Mr Cook expressed his ‘continuing uncertainty about the county’s case’ and suggested there was little point in setting aside time for UBB’s barrister Mr Phillips to cross-examine GCC’s witness Mr Darley if there was consensus between the two of them.

“Mr Phillips may see little merit in asking many questions of Mr Darley if his substantive position is essentially that of UBB,” he said.

The Government-appointed inspector Mr Cook also made a point of noting that GCC’s representative at the inquiry, Mr Darley, ‘endorses the technology choice and the single site solution promoted by UBB’, and went on to observe that his only objection is that ‘the building is unnecessarily tall’.

With GCC seemingly not prepared to mount a strong defence of its own planning committee’s decision, the task of opposing the facility will fall to Stroud District Council and GlosVAIN, who will both be represented at the inquiry.

In May, GCC unanimously passed a motion calling on the authority’s chief executive to "seek robust support to defend the planning committee decision in any appeal process that may take place in the future."

A spokesman for GlosVAIN said: “The fact that the inspector has issued a note to highlight that he believes the UBB barrister would see little merit in asking questions of the GCC witness Paul Darley because his position is essentially that of UBB speaks volumes and casts serious doubts on the ‘robust defence’ claims.

“It is also a massive slap in the face for those GCC councillors who proposed that a working committee be set up to investigate a ‘Plan B’ by looking at alternative solutions to incineration.”

Green Party county councillor Sarah Lunnon (Stroud central) has also criticised GCC and accused it of adopting a ‘laughable position’.

She said: "The planning committee did not accept that there was proven need for the harm caused by an industrial-scale building at Javelin Park so why – before the appeal hearing into the refusal even starts – is the county apparently still promoting a monstrous incinerator at Javelin Park?”

In response, Nigel Riglar, GCC's commissioning director for communities and infrastructure, said: “The inspector is rightly seeking to avoid unnecessary duplication in the evidence giving and has made a number of observations for the parties to consider.

"In line with council's decision, we will be robustly defending the decision of the planning committee and the issues raised by the inspector will be addressed as a priority throughout the inquiry.”