In spite of an overwhelming vote against the construction of a waste incinerator, Norfolk County Council has applied for planning permission. Support the campaign to stop it.
King’s Lynn Without Incineration (KLWIN) and a local farmers campaign group have been fighting the proposals by Norfolk County Council (NCC) to build a mass-burn waste incinerator near King’s Lynn. They persuaded the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk to hold a referendum, and won a landslide vote against. 65,500 (92.7%) voted against it being built, whereas only 5,200 (7.3%) voted in favour. Yet despite local opposition winning support from MPs, the local paper and the borough council, Norfolk County Council (NCC) has now applied for planning permission to build the incinerator.
Jo Rust, Secretary of King’s Lynn and District Trades Council, says: ‘The 30-year private finance initiative (PFI) contract will cost millions! What’s more, increasing use of recycling and other environmentally friendly methods of dealing with waste will create jobs. This has happened in Cambridgeshire.’
These incinerators release minute particles into the air which include toxic substances, but local people are not only worried about the effect on their health. The incinerator will affect the farming and fishing industries, including the shellfish beds in the Wash.
This does not just affect people in West Norfolk; it will have a harmful effect on the food everyone in the country eats. What’s more, if this incinerator is built, it will allow other county councils to try. So the King’s Lynn campaign is more than just a local one. The ConDems have plans for 80 incinerators all over the country. Please help us to stop it by emailing the people listed below. You don’t have to be from West Norfolk!
(1) E-mail Caroline Spelman MP and ask her not to award the £169 million PFI funding that this incinerator needs to proceed. [email protected]
(2) E-mail Eric Pickles MP and ask him to ‘call in’ the planning, so it is determined by a Planning Inspector and not Norfolk County Council. [email protected]
(3) Object to the planning application even if NCC determines it. Your objection could make a difference during a later court action.
For more information go to the KLWIN website (http://www.klwin.org/).
