MP says Grundon's perseverance is like a 'noose round the necks' of Perth folk
The prospect of an incinerator being built near Perth's centre is like a "noose round the necks" of its people, according to MP Pete Wishart.
- By Alan Richardson
- Published in the Courier : 19.05.11
- Published online : 19.05.11 @ 01.18pm
Having failed in its bid to build a waste-to-energy plant with an 80-metre chimney stack, Grundon Waste Management returned to council planners with an altered scheme this week.
The move has confirmed the worst fears of protesters against the previous plan, who claim the fact the Shore Road site already has outline planning permission leaves the door open to repeated applications.
Mr Wishart said, "The people of Perth rejected and saw off Grundon's last proposal and together we will see off this latest proposal once again.
"Grundon continue to use their outline planning consent like some sort of noose round the necks of the people of Perth — a consent they know was secured in error and should never have been given."
Part of the site is owned by Perth and Kinross Council, which could prove a barrier for the prospective developers.
Because of a change in the proposed gasification technology to be used to dispose of 90,000 tonnes of waste a year, the new plan has a chimney of only 34m and the tallest building would be 18.5m.
Grundon's move was also condemned by Tory MSPs Murdo Fraser and Liz Smith.
Mr Fraser said, "I believe it is a mistake that a new application has been submitted and the goodwill of the people of Perth is being tested to the extreme."
The Courier broke the story of Grundon's plans over two years ago. The Oxfordshire firm gained outline permission to build a waste-to-energy plant on the site in 2006, but the permission had been granted without the knowledge of senior management or councillors.
Although the council's legal team admitted errors had been made, the authority claimed there was nothing in the application to suggest the scale of the proposal and it had not attracted a single objection.
Horrifying to residents was the prospect of an 80m chimney stack towering above the town and, according to critics, distributing detritus from the burning process for miles.
Politicians, community councils, residents and even Perth Prison bombarded the council with objections.
10.14pm - 19.05.2011 Michael Gallagher - Coupar Angus, Perthshire Report This
The only reason Grundon is free to return with revised plans is that all four of the main political parties back Government policy of supporting waste incineration. Grundon may have supplied the "noose", but the scaffold was built by the SNP, Labour, Tories and LibDems.
09.09am - 20.05.2011 Mike Stirling - Forfar, Scotland Report This
The plain and simple fact is that Grundon have not got their PR proprely sorted. People need to be told about the emerging technologies involved in gasification at high temperatures eg.,>3000 deg.C. This results in disruption of the waste down to almost molecular level, thus the "sandy" waste.
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