Protestors target council meeting over Sowerby Bridge incinerator plans

Concerns about a waste company’s environmental permit – allowing it to operate an incinerator in Calderdale – saw residents pressurising senior councillors over the issue.

Calderdale Council Cabinet members faced a barrage of questions about the issue, including about a Calder Valley Skip Hire, who run the Belmont, Sowerby Bridge site where the small waste incineration plant will operate, application to the Environment Agency (EA) to add some hazardous waste codes to the permit.

Rick Davies said the council would be aware of the application, while the current permit only permits non-hazardous waste.

He claimed this would impact nearby woodland where people walk, with a public footpath through the middle of the site, and it being immediately adjacent to the River Ryburn, where flooding had occurred, water draining into the river.

“Does Calderdale Council consider it appropriate hazardous waste is handled on this site, and will they be opposing the variation to the Belmont environmental permit?” he asked.

David Pugh also raised the issue, as well as asking how granting an environmental permit for the site fitted into Calderdale Climate Action Plan which aimed to spread the message of “building a brighter, zero carbon Calderdale.”

Responding, council Deputy Leader and Cabinet member for Climate Action and Housing, Coun Scott Patient, said waste catalogue controls were being strengthened and this was welcome as it afforded a higher level of protection by ensuring hazardous waste was separated from other waste and dealt with in the most appropriate manner.

The change meant that was previously a non-hazardous waste stream must now undergo additional testing to determine whether it was hazardous or not, and any deemed hazardous to be separated, he said.

“Any hazardous waste will be stored separately in a designated area and taken off site to an appropriate facility to be dealt with,” said Coun Patient (Lab, Luddenden Foot).

Coun Patient said it was not for the council to comment on the appropriateness of the application as it was a matter for the EA.

Clive Wilkinson questioned how the Belmont permit could be granted as applications for one for a nearby company site at Mearclough, Sowerby Bridge, had twice been refused.

He said the reasons, including impact on the town’s air quality management area, were the same and claimed the Belmont decision was wrong.

“Will Cabinet now stop defending the indefensible and rescind the environmental permit?” he said.

Coun Patient said two permits were not comparable – the refused one sought to burn wood waste while the Belmont one was to burn refuse derived fuel.

Both sites operated differently and each needed to be assessed in their own right, he said.

Regulators, whether the EA or council, had the same aim, to protect public health and the environment, said Coun Patient.

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