Portland Waste Incinerator approved on Appeal
On September 16th, a junior minister ignored advice from the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport and Historic England, approved a 202,000-tonne-per-year waste incinerator in the heart of Dorset’s UNESCO-designated Jurassic Coast at Portland. This terrible and mystifying decision has profound implications for Dorset and overturns the decision by Dorset Council last year to refuse planning permission. It goes in the face of opposition throughout Dorset by the local people, the Town Council, Dorset Council and many organisations including DCAN, CPRE, STOPPI, UKWIN, DDB.
Discussions are ongoing to see if the decision can be challenged and how much this will cost. It certainly looks as if the appeal decision was, at best, naïve or, at worse, negligent. They seem to have taken at face value everything that Powerfuel fed them without taking into account any of the counter arguments. A promising challenge is the threat to the UNESCO world heritage site. Another is whether the recent Supreme Court rulings on Horse Hill and the Cambrian coal mine were taken into account in the decision which relate to whether the full impact of carbon emissions to the atmosphere have been properly accounted for.
The Government reopened the public consultation on this development on the 20th September 2024 - read more about this and follow the links below.
Why This in Important:
1. World Heritage Site.
The incinerator threatens Dorset’s coastline which is the location of a UNESCO World Heritage site. The UK government has now been warned by World Heritage Watch, an independent body that works with UNESCO to protect World Heritage Sites, that they need to go to UNESCO to get approval.
2. Burning Carbon
The incinerator burns waste from local, national an international sources. The waste is high in plastics and other hydrocarbon-based material. It is rich in carbon so it produces a lot of CO2 the greenhouse gas. Powerfuel describe the operation as “renewable low carbon energy to power around 30,000 homes”. Incinerators emit CO2 equivalent to the waste they burn, making them over 3 times more carbon-intensive than the decarbonising national grid so they are certainly not renewable or low carbon and the 15MW power output of the Portland Incinerator is only equivalent to a single offshore wind turbine. Some waste incinerator projects are linked to carbon capture and storage. This one is not.
3. Recycling
Incinerators destroy recyclable materials and get in the way of a circular economy that recycles and reuses resources, reducing climate impact and protecting nature. Dorset waste is already well managed: The Government Waste Interrogator data confirms that the only landfill in Dorset is inert rubble used to infill disused quarries. For 2022/23 Defra ranked Dorset as the best unitary council for recycling rates. We are well set to exceed the requirement to halve residual waste by 2042.
4. Transport
There is already overcapacity in waste incineration in the UK which forces new incinerators to import much of their waste from other countries. This incinerator is expected to require 80 HGV journeys a day, every day, through already congested residential areas; or each year 96 cargo ships transferring waste in a very exposed Port. This causes air pollution, waste spills into the sea to wash onto beaches and contaminating our international sailing and fishing waters.
5. Economic Damage
Dorset’s economy is built on our amazing landscape, seascape, culture and heritage which draws high achievers to want to live and work here. There is no welcome for tourists from waste lorries, litter, a building blight nor an industrial illuminated plume to be seen for miles along our coastline.
6. Health Risks
Homes would sit above the incinerator’s chimney exposing residents to toxic emissions. Permits merely manage pollution, not prevent it.
7. Heritage Impact
Portland stone, used in iconic buildings, is culturally significant. This incinerator embodies the wastefulness we must stop. Dorset Council planners unanimously refused it due to its harmful impact. Its ugly function symbolised in its ugly massive and unsuitable form.
Press coverage is ongoing, some recent articles are linked here:
Burning household rubbish now UK’s dirtiest form of power, BBC finds - BBC News
Portland: Government approves £150m waste incinerator - BBC News
The Government reopened the public consultation on this development on the 20th September 2024 due to an administrative error on the original consultation resulting in some people who may have wished to submit a response being unable to, read more here: (Closes on the 20th October 2024)
Permit consultation for Portland incinerator reopens - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Link to submitting a response is here:
You can also view Stop Portland Incinerators Campaign Page here, where you are also able to add your name in support: