Kenilworth and Southam Liberal Democrats

Stop Project Transform Now - Liberal Democrats call for halt to giant incinerator plan

Liberal Democrats in Warwickshire are calling for an immediate halt to Project Transform, the joint project with Coventry and Solihull to build a replacement for the Coventry incinerator by 2016. They have tabled a motion to this effect for debate at the next full meeting of Warwickshire County Council on 30th March.

The hardening of the Lib Dems' previous opposition to the project follows the publication of revised waste growth forecasts by the Project Transform team on 1st February. It also follows the announcement of the potential bidders left in the field after the initial stage of the procurement process.

Cllr John Whitehouse (Kenilworth Abbey), Liberal Democrat county spokesman for the Environment, said:

"We do not support the latest waste growth forecasts, which result in only a minor downward adjustment in the size of the planned new facility, from 305,000 to 284,000 tonnes. The best opportunity within the current project has been lost, to have a radical re-think and to set far more ambitious long term targets for waste minimisation and recycling rates. What is on the table at the moment is far from best-in-class.

"We are also hugely disappointed that the promised real choice of technology options for residual waste has effectively disappeared so early in the procurement process. Companies that might have offered more innovative, flexible and environmentally-friendly processes than mass incineration have voted with their feet by not bothering to put themselves forward. They probably saw the writing clearly on the wall.

"As things stand today, the project is rushing inexorably towards the building of a large incinerator on the Coventry site, whose size could be twice as big as needed. This would put a massive and unnecessary financial burden on local council taxpayers over the 25-year planned life of the plant."

The Liberal Democrat motion to the County Council calls on the Project Transform partners to halt the current procurement process, and to delay any restart for a minimum of one year to allow time to develop a radical alternative to the current joint strategy. If agreement cannot be reached across the three local authorities, the motion calls for unilateral withdrawal by Warwickshire from the project, as permitted under the current partnership arrangements.

NOTES:

1. Details of Project Transform can be found at:

http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/pages.nsf/links/7CD4FB3E1478060480257481004BC660

2. The outline business case for the project was to build a 305,000 tonne capacity facility to process the residual municipal waste of the three councils. PFI (Private Finance Initiative) funding of £129 million was granted by DEFRA in June 2009, based on a reference case of an Energy from Waste plant (i.e. incinerator) to be built on a site adjacent to the current Coventry incinerator. The total cost of the project, over the planned lifetime of the new plant until 2040, was stated to be over £1 billion.

3. The latest 'Waste Flow Model' forecasts were released by Project Transform on 1st February. See: http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/pages.nsf/Links/C425C0FA756E8694802576B90038CB80. When the model was first run in 2007, it indicated that 305,000 tonnes of residual waste would be produced by 2040; however based on latest 2008-9 actual results the model is now projecting 284,000 tonnes.

4. The model assumes large housing growth across the sub-region in excess of the Regional Spatial Strategy projections, but also that waste per household will continue to grow, despite the demographic trend towards more people living alone or in smaller households. Liberal Democrats believe that zero overall waste growth over the period to 2042 is a realistic and necessary objective.

5. The model also projects that overall recycling and composting rates will 'plateau' at 54% by 2020, with no discernible improvements beyond then. Liberal Democrats say this is unacceptable, and that ongoing improvements to levels approaching 70% by 2042 are achievable for the sub-region given the right political will. [By contrast, the new draft waste strategy for London is targeting 50% by 2020, and 60% by 2031.]

6. The shortlist of potential bidders was released by Project Transform in January. See: http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/pages.nsf/Links/F62E13EB05529E6F802576AB005A481E. Bidders were chosen on their 'track record of successfully delivering large waste infrastructure projects'. In practice, this means incinerator projects in almost every case.

7. Liberal Democrat national policy is to oppose the building of any new incinerators for municipal waste, unless they can be shown to be the best environmental option after considering all alternatives including new technologies, where waste reduction and reuse are not possible