Wirral council vows to fight incinerator plans

Jul 7 2010 by Ben Schofield, Birkenhead News

THE fightback has started against proposals for an incinerator in Eastham.

Waste processing firm Biossence already has permission to build a treatment centre for rubbish, but there are now fears Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA) wants to upgrade the planning permission so it can build an “energy from waste” burner.

Biossence are currently preparing the site for a 400,000-tonne plant, which will sort and treat waste, as well as producing a fuel which will be burnt to produce electricity.

It declined to comment but it is understood it has signed an exclusivity deal with MWDA and would sell rights to the site for around £11m.

Wirral Council this week said it would oppose any firm bid to build an incinerator and Eastham Village Village Preservation Association said residents had “had enough of rubbish”.

In a letter to councillors seen by the News, MWDA director Carl Beer defended the Authority and said it was in neogitations with “a range of landowners”.

He said: “It is not the Authority’s intention to withhold information regarding these discussions but to manage the risk attached to such negotiations and to try and obtain the most advantageous terms in relation to any site.”

He said the sites being considered might not be the final locations.