England has temporarily banned permits for new incinerator plants, including one that the Environment Secretary Steve Barclay is fighting against being built in his constituency. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will now evaluate how many plants are necessary, following a caution from a government official that stopping permits would be “unlawful.” An energy-to-waste plant has been proposed in Wisbech, in Cambridgeshire; despite Mr. Barclay’s opposition, it has been allowed to go ahead pending Environment Agency approval. Ten incinerators in England have been suspended.
The order is set to expire on May 24 but may be withdrawn at an earlier time. Plants handling clinical or hazardous waste are unaffected by the pause. The Environment Minister Mark Spencer instructed the Environment Agency to stop granting licenses temporarily after Mr. Barclay was recused from the process. There are worries that expanding incineration capacity would put environmental obligations at risk, according to a letter from Mr. Spencer sent to the agency’s head.
The work is intended to assess whether the capacity developed aligns with the government’s goals of cutting the amount of waste incinerated and to address concerns of overprovision. It could lead to a further review. According to a Defra source, Mr. Barclay would not be involved in the work. Earlier this month, Mr. Barclay suggested that progress on a government target to halve waste going to new incinerators would undermine the case for them.
Labour’s shadow environment secretary Steve Reed has raised “serious issues” regarding whether Barclay used his authority to promote his constituency’s decision. “The British people require answers. Who attempted to influence Barclay, when, and which other ministers were involved,” he remarked. Nonetheless, the Defra spokeswoman said the department was focused on reducing waste, recycling, and reaching net zero targets for sending less waste for incineration. “We must ensure we have the right waste management infrastructure to meet these goals and are rightfully evaluating the need for more waste incineration facilities,” she added
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More