Incinerator: Lynn News Comment - The end of the beginning . . .
“Cameron and Spelman would not give us £169 million if this incinerator plan was dodgy.”
Derrick Murphy, leader of Norfolk County Council, quoted on the front page of the Lynn News, January 14, 2011.
Well, Derrick – that statement appears to be more prophetic than you could have guessed at the time.
For it looks very much indeed that your frankly unfathomable plans to place a stonking great waste burner at Saddlebow have gone up in smoke.
Despite desperate noises made by county council environment portfolio holder Bill Borrett, it is difficult to see where the project goes from here.
Are County Hall seriously suggesting that they can proceed without Government backing – and more importantly, cash?
The economics of the scheme were already looking increasingly beleaguered as the country hovers on the brink of a double-dip recession.
Surely only the crazy move to agree to a £20 million break clause – meaning Cory Wheelabrator will collect a compensation payment if the scheme does not go ahead – can have impelled County Hall to continue with this sorry project.
We are approaching Christmas so let’s talk turkey.
The people of West Norfolk do not want an incinerator in their backyard.
More than 65,000 of them voted against it in a well-supported referendum.
Mr Borrett seemed to suggest that, as this was a little while ago, some of these may now have changed their minds.
Well, no. Not until hell freezes over, in most cases.
Mr Borrett also said that while ignoring the only democratic test of support for the scheme, he was perfectly happy to accept an opinion poll carried out on behalf of Cory Wheelabrator, which claimed a majority of people in the county back the plan (or at least among the 1,000 people interviewed from here to Hopton, as far as we know).
We have always said our principal objection to the incinerator is the contempt for democracy it has exposed among the leadership at County Hall.
They have refused even to debate it properly.
Extraordinarily, the council’s stance has received backing from some, including newspaper columns, from people whose betrayal will not be lightly forgiven in these parts.
The council will not abandon this scheme lightly.
But suitably near the Remembrance weekend, let us recall what Winston Churchill said in World War II after El Alamein. This is not the end. This is not the beginning of the end. But it may just be the end of the beginning.
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Weather for King's Lynn
Monday 28 May 2012
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Temperature: 10 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North
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mrsmurphy
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 11:51 AMThe latest Air Quality Report from the Environmental Audit Committee (www.parliament.uk) states that:- Dangerous levels of particulate matter(PM 2.5 or PM10) in the air are contributing to tens of thousands of early deaths every year in the UK. The Chair of the committee, said: " It is a national scandal that thousands of people are still dying from air pollution in the UK in 2011 - and the government is taking no responsibility for this. Despite a coalition pledge to meet European safety standards on air pollution the Government appears to be lobbying behind the scenes to water these rules down." This Incinerator and other proposals at the Saddlebow Estate will of course only exacerbate the already poor air quality in Kings Lynn. Well that's OK then - As long as it's not in Norwich and as long as Wheelabrator and all their supporters can line their pockets, WHO GIVES A DAMN. Certainly not Norfolk County Council.
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