Listed below are previous updates:
The Environment Agency (EA) has opened a public consultation on granting an incinerator operating licence for the Hertfordshire County Council-Veolia incinerator at New Barnfield, which runs from Wednesday, 9 January to Friday, 8 February 2013.
As part of the above, the Environment Agency will be holding drop-in consultation sessions at the Cecil Memorial Hall from 14:00 – 20:00 (2-8pm) on Wednesday, 23 and Thursday, 24 January 2013. The Cecil Memorial Hall (House on the Rock Christian Ministry) [AL10 8AQ] is opposite Market Place, Hatfield town centre, on the corner of French Horn Lane and the B6426 Queensway.
How you can help:
1. Please attend the drop in consultations and file an objection against granting permission.
The Environment Agency consultation documents can be found on their website (https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/portal/permits/draft/new/barnfield)
Search for: 'Environment Agency Draft Decision Consultation for a Proposed Waste Facility at New Barnfield' [Please note: there is a previous permit consultation which closed on 24 April 2012 on the system]
The documents will also be available at Hatfield Library (during its limited opening hours); the Environment Agency offices in Hatfield (you'll need to make a prior appointment 01707 632505), and at the WHBC offices at Campus East, WGC.
Advice on the valid grounds for making an objection will be made available on the HAI website (links below)
Hatfield Against Incineration (HAI) is planning a protest outside on the last hour of the last day of the EA consultation sessions - at 19:00 (7pm) on Thursday, 24 January 2013.
How you can help:
Please attend the HAI protest (and encourage others to do the same) and please bring banners, placards, torches and lanterns as it will be dark.
In their press release HAI also informed that:
1. A decision on whether or not to call in the HCC-Veolia incinerator planning permission decision (currently placed on hold) was expected later this month by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).
2. The Information Commissioner has ruled that Veolia and HCC must provide to the public the WRATE (Waste and Resources Assessment Tool for the Environment) assessment for the incinerator, which we asked for before the Planning decision was made, and which we say should have been available to the Herts County Councillors who made that decision. The WRATE assessment gives detail of the carbon emissions.
[WRATE software compares the environmental impacts of different municipal waste management systems, like incinerators. However, some bodies, like WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), are critical of the weightings used by WRATE and question the accuracy of its results.]
3. Over 2,000 objections were lodged against the inclusion of New Barnfield as a waste site in HCC's Proposed Submission Waste Site Allocations document by the 21 December 2012 consultation deadline. These objections will be very useful when an independent inspector considers the Waste Site Allocations document at a hearing in public, later this year.
In separate developments, a couple of recent media reports showed how central government legislation could easily and dramatically reduce the amount of waste produced (and the need for new incinerator capabilities):
"The US town of Concord in Massachusetts has banned the sale of bottled water in units smaller than one litre. The law came into effect on January 1, after a three-year campaign to reduce waste and encourage tap water use. First offenders will get a warning. Anyone caught selling the banned bottles a second time will be fined $25 (£15), with $50 for further offences. The Australian town of Bundanoon introduced a complete ban on bottled water in 2009. More than 90 universities in the US and others around the world have already restricted the sale of plastic bottles, as have some local government authorities."
3 January 2013 Last updated at 00:05
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20895902
"Plastic bag tax: England to be only part of UK which does not charge
for single use carriers
Bag use rose by around five per cent to 6.75billion in 2011-12 despite
David Cameron demanding reductions. Wales already charges 5p, with
Scotland and Northern Ireland on course to charge from next year"
10:54, 29 December 2012 | UPDATED: 10:54, 29 December 2012
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2242787/Plastic-bag-tax-England-UK-does-charge-single-use-carriers.html
Following scrutiny to by the independent public examiner some modifications have been made to the Proposed Submission Waste Site Allocations Document and a fresh public consultation opened on 9 November, and is scheduled to close on 21 December 2012.
Not surprisingly, given the way HCC has conducted itself, despite 2,000 people objecting to New Barnfield being a site when they originally consulted the public in February-March 2012, it remains as one of the locations. So it is necessary to lodge a fresh objection to the 'new' consultation.
Who to respond to:
email: spatialplanning@hertscc.gov.uk
Or post to:
Spatial and Land Use Planning CHN216
Hertfordshire County Council
Pegs Lane
Hertford
Herts
SG12 8DN
What are you responding to:
This is a consultation on Waste Sites for the whole of Hertfordshire. New Barnfield is included as a potential waste site for many kinds of waste management, including 'thermal treatment' ie. incineration.
How to respond:
a. You can write a simple letter or email saying that New Barnfield should not be included in the list of sites.
If you objected to the Waste Sites document in Spring 2012, you can say that you still object to New Barnfield being included.
b. You can use the HAI simplified form on our website (link below).
c. You can use the official, more detailed, HCC form.
Look on www.hertsdirect.org. Search for Waste Site Allocations, and
then click on 'Proposed Submission Waste Site Allocations 2012'.
There is a list of documents, and the response form is near the end.
Or ask for one in a library of council offices.
d. You can use the official HCC online consultation response system.
Apart from sending your own objection you can help out by:
1. Ask your friends, neighbours and work colleagues to respond.
2. Ask any organisation to which you belong to respond.
3. Arrange a form-signing session in your locality (eg. at Dutch Nursery or centre of Welham Green).
4. Hatfield Against Incineration and our supporters have been asking the public to sign response forms in Hatfield Town Centre on Saturdays (17 and 24 November; 1, 8 and 15 December 2012).
Hertfordshire County Council has submitted its Proposed Submission Waste Site Allocations Document for public consultation again following amendments after the independent public examiner reviewed it, as mentioned in the HAI update in the box above. Please respond by Friday, 21 December 2012.
While the incinerator planning permission has been put on hold while the Secretary of State decides whether or not to call the decision in, HCC is proceeding with building work for the 'temporary' relocation of Southfield School on the field between Woods Avenue and Old Rectory Drive. It suggests the Conservative-run county council is either confident of winning their case or don't mind forking out taxpayers money to demolish the foundations they are preparing and restoring the field back to its original state (which rather begs the question if they've got so much money to waste why don't they use it to restore the street-lighting or repair the roads).
In separate developments:
The Welwyn-Hatfield Liberal Democrats hosted a meeting on Wednesday, 8 November 2012 at 20:00 (after their own party meeting), at the Jim MacDonald Centre, South Hatfield to update the public about the current position and future developments. The speaker was Paul Zukowskyj (Secretary of New Barnfield Trust, and member of Hatfield Against Incineration Committee, Chair of Herts Lib-Dem Co-ordinating Committee).
Colney Heath resident Susan Salter has launched a 'Bin the Incinerator' campaign. According to a report in the local press she is calling on people to record video messages of their objections to the incinerator. These will be sent to Secretary of State Eric Pickles who is expected to announce whether he will be calling the decision in or not in the New Year. Video protest messages must be created and emailed by Thursday, 20 December 2012 to: bintheincinerator@yahoo.co.uk
A 'Bin the Incinerator' Rally will take place on Sunday, 16 December 2012 at 14:30 (2.30pm) at The Crooked Billet, 88, High Street, Colney Heath, AL4 0NU.
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