Hundreds of people sign petition to stop waste incinerator for Portland
Campaigners say they're "beyond disappointed" after the government gives the green light for the facility on the Jurassic Coast
An environmentalist says he was ‘brought to tears’ after the government approved plans to build a waste incinerator on Portland.
A petition has now been launched to stop the facility from being built, with hundreds of people adding their names to it.
Last week the government gave planning permission for Powerfuel to build the facility at Portland Port.
Dave Taylor from the Weymouth and Portland Marine Litter Project told us: “It's such a horrific thing to happen locally and it’s the total opposite of what we want to see and goes against everything we do.
“We’ve spent the last three years trying to divert waste from being burned so to have an incinerator built on our doorstep, meters away from Chesil Beach and the Jurassic Coast is very upsetting.”
The original proposal for the waste to energy plant at Portland Port had been rejected by Dorset Council.
South Dorset's new Labour MP Lloyd Hatton called the government's decision to give the go-ahead for the incinerator a "huge mistake", saying it is an “inappropriate location” for the plant.
Portland is in the middle of an area of outstanding natural beauty and classed as a UNESCO world heritage site, the Jurassic Coast.
Dave Taylor said: “I would say 95% of people on Portland are totally against it. Half the people are against the traffic it’ll cause, some don’t want it ruining the views, others are against the pollution, there's lots of reasons.”
He believes the UK should be leading innovation in recycling and reducing waste, while phasing out burning waste.
“Burning plastic isn't green and apart from coal, it's the worst way of generating electricity, then to make matters worse half of the stuff being burnt could actually be recycled,” Dave said.
Portland residents feel their views have once again been ignored by the government and say this plant goes against Labour’s ‘green energy’ and net zero policies.
Dave said: “Labour’s manifesto was all about creating a ‘green future’ and being a ‘green superpower’, having this on the Jurassic Coast seems to make a joke of that.
“The have even said themselves that energy for waste should be really a ‘last resort’ when there's no alternative but there are plans to build another incinerator just 50 miles away in Canford.”
The Environment Agency have reopened their consultation for the Operating Permit due to an administrative error during the summer consultation.