The public inquiry into the controversial Lynn incinerator project has resumed in the town this morning.
A packed hall at the West Norfolk Professional Development Centre in North Lynn has heard lawyers acting for Cory Wheelabrator, who hope to operate the Saddlebow site, open their case for the development.
John Boldon, Cory Environmental’s director of planning, told the hearing the site was ideal for the proposed development and insisted that refusal would have “serious consequences” for efforts to divert waste away from landfill sites.
And he repeated the assertion made during last Tuesday’s opening statement that Palm Paper had not ruled out the possibility of taking power from the incinerator if it is built.
Mr Boldon also defended Wheelabrator’s record following criticisms of the company’s operations in America, pointing out the firm had not had any criminal convictions there.
He said senior Cory officials had made two trips to America to look at Wheelabrator facilities before entering a partnership with them, adding: “We were more than happy with what we saw.”
Mr Boldon also criticised the question posed in the West Norfolk Council-organised local poll in 2011, arguing that it did not properly represent the proposal and the “emotive” campaign run against the scheme by campaigners and “the local paper.”
Earlier, planning inspector Elizabeth Hill told the inquiry she was not convinced that full disclosure of the contract between Cory Wheelabrator and Norfolk County Council was necessary for her to reach a recommendation on the proposal.
She said legal advice she had received recommended that full disclosure should only be ordered if a recommendation could not be reached without it.
She added that it would be “unlikely” to be considered a reasonable use of the pwoer to order the release of commercially sensitive information.
Ms Hill later disclosed that she had worked for a local authority in the West Midlands at around the same time as Mr Boldon, though they had never worked directly together.
She said she had not spoken to Mr Boldon for around 30 years before today and did not see any conflict in her hearing his evidence.
The inquiry continues this afternoon.
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