Incinerator company gets permit

Plans for the incinerator were given conditional approval last year

A permit for a controversial waste incinerator in East Sussex has been issued by the Environment Agency.

The Pollution Prevention and Control Permit has been given to waste firm Veolia for its £145m "energy recovery facility" at North Quay, Newhaven.

Opponents of the plan applied for a judicial review, but it was dismissed by a High Court judge in November 2008

MP Norman Baker accused the county council and the EA of "riding rough-shod over the people of Newhaven".

The legal challenge by Lewes District Friends of the Earth and Defenders of the Ouse Valley and Estuary (Dove) claimed East Sussex County Council had "ignored long-term recycling targets".

It's a very bad day for Newhaven and it's a bad day for democracy MP Norman Baker

More than 9,000 people also wrote to the agency in response to the plans.

Mr Baker, Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, said: "It's a very bad day for Newhaven and it's a bad day for democracy as well.

"Almost very single person has opposed this site, the town council has opposed it, I've opposed it and yet the Conservative county council has insisted on driving through this plan.

"There are plenty of other schemes... that can meet our waste problem. This is 1980s technology, not suitable for Newhaven today."

He said it going to "cost an absolute fortune" for taxpayers.

The Environment Agency said the permit would strictly govern the operation of the electricity-generating incinerator to protect public health and the environment.

Performance monitoring

Chris Wick, environment manager for the Environment Agency, said: "We have considered this application very carefully, and we are satisfied that the incinerator will not cause any significant pollution providing it is operated in accordance with our permit.

"From the moment we received the application we recognised that this application is of major public interest, and we have done everything we can to ensure that everyone has had an opportunity to comment."

He said the permit was "only the first stage in our regulation of the incinerator".

Its environment performance will be monitored by the agency, he added.

Plans for the proposed Newhaven incinerator were given conditional approval last year.

Veolia, which will operate the plant, said the incinerator would generate electricity through burning an estimated 210,000 tonnes of waste a year.