Carlisle's Green Party criticises EA's permit for incinerator plans

Following the public consultation, on April 12, the EA authorised Fortum Carlisle Limited's plans to bring the waste incinerator to land south of Kingmoor Park Industrial Estate.

Tom Adams, chair of Carlisle and District Green Party, said the decision made will be 'bad for public health, bad for wildlife and bad for Carlisle'. 

Although the permit has been accepted, the site operator will not be able to operate the site until the Environment Agency are satisfied that they have met all the pre-operational conditions - such as 'arrangements for monitoring emissions' produced by the plant.

A statement released by Carlisle's Green Party says: "This is a dismaying decision for the people of Carlisle, particularly those who live in the Kingmoor area.

"If this development goes ahead now it will mean a 70m high chimney stack dominating the skyline, raised levels of nitrogen oxides, dioxins and particulates in the air, together with an increase in HGV traffic to and from the site with all the noise and pollution that will bring.

"Make no mistake, the EA has just given the green light for this harmful development which can only be overturned by a judicial review. 

"The Green Party will continue to oppose this flawed ‘solution’ to waste treatment using all avenues open to its disposal.

"The incinerator will be bad for public health, bad for wildlife and bad for Carlisle," they said. 

The Environment Agency said that they 'understand this may not be the news some people were hoping for' but, they are unable to refuse a permit if they cannot find evidence that the plant will cause significant harm. 

Green Party cllr for Belah, Helen Davison said: "When residents raised health and climate concerns about the incinerator, the planners said residents should trust the Environment Agency.

"Yet after a long, drawn-out process, with a huge amount of research put in by residents, the Environment Agency appears to have disregarded their valid concerns and dismissed issues raised by professional organisations.

"They have employed a flawed process to issue a permit for the incinerator to operate anyway.

"This is way beyond disappointing. It is plain wrong at a time when the emissions this produces will fuel climate and environmental damage that is coming close to irreversible, not to mention its health impacts," she said. 

Local action groups have also criticised the permit decision. 

Henry Goodwin, from Sustainable Carlisle, said: "The wrong decision wrongly made in the face of all the evidence. 

"It is not good enough for the Environment Agency to say that they can't refuse a permit on environmental grounds when they have not answered all the questions put to them by the community nor put this in the wider context of climate change implications. 

"We do not believe this underfunded regulator has carried out due diligence.

"This is exactly the wrong direction to be going in.

"The challenge to prevent this will not stop. 

"We cannot afford such dangerous white elephants and must focus on more positive alternatives to waste management that are not based on private profiteering but rather on our sustainable needs.

"This is not just controversial. It is wrong," he said. 

A spokesperson from Fortum Carlisle Limited said: "We are pleased to see that the environmental permit has been issued.

"While there is still a lot of work to do, the project has passed a significant milestone and we look forward to the project’s environmental benefits being realised."