Row over omissions from Merseyside waste report

Jun 2 2009 Liverpool Daily Post

The email to Cllr Blakeley, from Dr Alan Jemmett, director of MEAS, said: “We have identified a problem in our database which led to these omissions.

“We are currently rectifying the problem and will re-issue the report with all the received site-specific comments included.

“May I apologise for the omissions and any confusion that this may have caused.”

The latest report has also infuriated residents in Prenton who held public meetings to try to highlight the impact they fear from a landfill near their homes.

Despite Wirral Council’s cabinet opposing the sites identified by MEAS, the authority – along with Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, and St Helens Councils – had signed up to allow MEAS to carry out the assessment of waste locations.

Prenton resident Grahame Mighall said many people had wrongly assumed because Wirral Council opposed the sites they would not be taken any further.

He said: “We need to make people aware of what is going on. Not enough people know about this.”

MEAS has said this is an interim report and “does not contain definitive information regarding sites or other waste issues,” and there will be further consultation.

A spokeswoman said: “As part of the ongoing plan preparation process potential sites are still being assessed therefore information is subject to change.”