I thought you might like to hear about the experience of Chineham, Basingstoke, regarding the recent opening of a waste incinerator.

The situation with Newhaven is all too familiar with a local authority being wooed by mega utility companies (not even from the UK) which promise the earth with government approval.

Here in Hampshire, our county council gave in to such pressure, turned its back on the public and more environmentally sound solutions and built a plant the height of a football pitch in a river valley conservation area.

It became a Beacon council for its efforts and OBEs followed in due course with the building being described as a landmark feature.

The truth is that an incinerator is a goldmine to those who operate it.

They export electricity to a buyer who is not allowed to say no for 25 years, bringing in millions of pounds a year, never mind the money generated from fees charged to the local authority to dispose of the municipal waste.

The incineration technology is so basic and the emissions control so tied up with how it is recorded and displayed that it appears to be well in control. The Environment Agency is supportive and protective of these plants as ultimately it is working for a Government that supports the industry.

Think about it: 100,000 tonnes of waste goes in each year; 30,000 tonnes is accounted for as ash (some deadly) so where does the rest go?

Up into the atmosphere as pollution and carbon dioxide. Thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The electricity is produced at a far lower efficiency than a power station. The pollution will eventually come to ground with the hope that it is diluted by dispersion.

Here in Chineham we have had occasions where burning smells and dust have been experienced with the winds blowing from over the incinerator but the Environment Agency has always found a suitable bonfire as the culprit even when the dust was lime-based and not a product of combustion.

It is always left to us to prove it was the incinerator. The black smoke is explained away as sunlight shining on a plume of steam.

We have now been issued with data that shows the pollution can come to ground after all but, conveniently, this small detail was left out of the environmental assessment during the planning process.

Chineham was denied a public inquiry at that time.

Good luck, Newhaven

-Chris Tomblin, chairman, Basingstoke Burner Action Campaign (BBAC) bbac-info@netpark-ltd.co.uk www.netpark-ltd.co.uk/bbac