Archived press release

Newhaven incinerator case hits High Court

15 July 2008

Plans to build an incinerator in Newhaven, East Sussex, will be put under the legal spotlight on Monday (21 July 2008) after the High Court granted an urgent hearing for a case filed against the planning permission by Lewes District Friends of the Earth.

The local Friends of the Earth group has applied for a judicial review because the planning committee which considered the proposal for the incinerator ignored long term regional recycling targets. Judicial review is the court procedure used to challenge the lawfulness of public authority decisions.

East Sussex County Council and Brighton and Hove City Council currently recycle less than 30 per cent of their household waste. Both have a regional target to recycle 60 per cent of their waste by 2025. Building this incinerator will encourage more rubbish to be burnt, making it much harder to reach the target.

The incinerator generated more public comments than any planning application ever considered by East Sussex County Council and has been strongly opposed by local residents. More than 15,000 letters containing a range of objections were sent to the council by local residents and public authorities concerned about its environmental impact.

Recycling saves greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding the need to extract and process materials which can be used again, such as glass, paper and plastic. Incinerators that produce electricity from waste emit around a third more fossil fuel-derived carbon dioxide than a gas-fired power station.

Phil Michaels, Head of Legal at Friends of the Earth and solicitor for the local group, said:

"We're really pleased that this hugely important case is being heard urgently by the High Court. Building the Newhaven incinerator is at complete odds with the region's long term recycling targets - and will result in waste being burnt which could and should be recycled."

Alison Walters, spokesperson for Lewes District Friends of the Earth, said:

"Local people don't want this blight on the environment to be built in our back yard. Incineration wastes valuable resources that could be recycled or composted, and contributes to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions. We hope the High Court quashes planning permission for the Newhaven Incinerator and that East Sussex and Brighton and Hove councils focus their efforts on reducing, recycling and composting waste instead."

Notes

1. The incinerator is planned for North Quay in Newhaven as part of a joint contract between East Sussex County Council, Brighton and Hove City Council and the waste management company Veolia.

2. East Sussex County council received 14,698 letters containing a large number of environmental, health and social objections to the incinerator when the planning application was first published. A further 1,542 letters were sent to the council when the application was re-advertised last year.

3. The Regional Planning Policy (RPG9) requires the region to recycle and compost 40 per cent of Municipal Solid Waste by 2010, 50 per cent by 2015, 55 per cent by 2020 and 60 per cent by 2025. East Sussex and Brighton and Hove are proposing to recycle 38 per cent of household waste by 2015.

4. For more information on incineration and climate change, see Friends of the Earth's briefing 'Dirty Truths' www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/dirty_truths.pdf

5. An incinerator needs two key permissions: one for pollution and one for planning. The incinerator's pollution permit has already been quashed by the High Court in a separate legal challenge at the end of last year. This means that the Environment Agency will need to decide whether to grant a new pollution permit later this year. On 5th December 2007 the High Court quashed the pollution permit for the Newhaven incinerator because the Environment Agency had failed to properly assess carbon dioxide emissions.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Limited