Burning issue: An anti-incinerator banner in King's Lynn. Picture: Ian Burt.

King’s Lynn incinerator - what next for Norfolk, is the question now

Chris Bishop Friday, November 11, 2011
7:36 PM

What next is the obvious question, after environment secretary Caroline Spelman refused to confirm the £169m in PFI credits to build an incinerator at King’s Lynn.

"With or without PFI credits, this proposal represents good value for money."

County councillor Bill Borrett

Back in June, environment secretary Caroline Spelman wrote to Norfolk County Council and warned a “broad public consensus” was needed behind the incinerator before it could obtain approval to borrow the money to build it, adding she was concerned at the strength of opposition to the plan.

Now Mrs Spelman says she has still not seen enough to convince her there is a consensus, so she is putting the £169m PFI (Private Finance Initiative) deal needed to build it on hold until she does.

Bill Borrett, Norfolk’s cabinet member for environment and waste, accused the minister of moving the goalposts with “a seemingly irrational 11th hour change of approach”.

And in what opponents see as a clear indication that the county council intends to press on regardless, he added: “With or without PFI credits, this proposal represents good value for money.”

Could Norfolk build an incinerator without PFI, when it is already committed to making savings of £155m over the three years, alongside an expected 45pc fall in capital grants from central government?

That could well be the question if the county council cannot unlock the PFI deal with some new trump card.

Mr Borrett said the county did not have a choice.

“If we don’t build it, it will cost more than building it,” he said.

“Without it, the additional cost of waste disposal will have to be found from the council’s budgets and impact on Norfolk council taxpayers’ services.

“What we’re trying to do is build a power station that’s powered by rubbish. That’s why it came out top of our list.”

Mr Borrett said the county council believed it had provided “ample evidence” of consensus. He said it would seek “clarification” from Mrs Spelman before deciding its next move, refusing to be drawn on what that might be.

West Norfolk’s departure from the Norfolk Waste Partnership and the pending judicial review into the county council’s conduct in awarding the contract for the incinerator were cited by Mrs Spelman as further grounds for putting a block on the £169m PFI deal.

West Norfolk – whose poll showed the strength of opposition to the incinerator – has a clear message. Nick Daubney and his cohorts argue it is time to bury the hatchet and move forward.

They say there are choices and it is time to get round the table and find a workable solution for both West Norfolk and the rest of the county.

And they argue there are newer, greener technologies which offer viable alternatives when it comes to dealing with our waste.

Mr Borrett said: “They don’t know what these are going to cost. They don’t know how polluting they’re going to be.

“This is all miles away in the future. It’s taken us five years to get to where we are with the existing scheme.”

Mr Borrett said he had requested more details about the alternatives being cited by West Norfolk but the firms behind them had refused because the processes involved were secret.

“One of them involves steam but they won’t tell us where the steam comes from or how squirting steam at rubbish changes it,” he said.

“We are always keen to look at new ideas but until we get an idea of what they will cost, what outputs they produce, timetables for delivery and the robustness of their technology they remain ideas, not concrete plans.”

West Norfolk Council said details were revealed at its recent seminar and “the one involving steam” was already up and running in Yorkshire.

Barry Brandford, the district council’s waste and recycling manager, said: “During our seminar two existing technologies were presented to demonstrate that alternatives to landfill and incineration exist and are viable.

“Sterecyle, who use autoclave technology, have a plant operating in Yorkshire and provide their services to three councils.

“Duratrust, who use two emerging technologies to process the waste are currently building their first commercial scale plant in North Wales. Both of the plants, in their separate ways, recycle ‘black bin’ waste.”

Mr Brandford said the new technologies would not carry a capital cost because the companies would fund construction of the necessary plant, recovering their investment by charging to recycle waste.

“Early indications are that this would be between £50 and £70 per tonne, which would be less than the gate fee charged for the proposed incinerator (£108 per tonne).

“As the market for the end products improve and the company becomes more successful the council would expect to receive some sort of profit share from the company.

“By applying the proximity principle – dealing with waste where it arises, rather than transporting from one side of the county to the other – a further £3m per year could be saved compared to the proposed incinerator.”

Meanwhile Mrs Spelman has been accused of redrawing the rules by suggesting the volume of protest in the West Norfolk referendum is a key factor in her thinking – apparently contradicting her cabinet colleague, communities secretary Eric Pickles, who has said the only public consultation that counts is through the planning process and changed the Localism Bill accordingly.

Results from the planning consultation echoed the results of West Norfolk council’s earlier poll - follow links above for the breakdown of how parish councils across Norfolk responded.

What Mrs Spelman does next – or how long she takes – is unclear. In any event, the picture could become clearer when an application for a judicial review into the county council’s conduct comes before the High Court. At a procedural hearing on December 5, the court in London will decide whether or not the case merits a full review.

If the judge decides it does, the case could drag on for months. If not, there could still be scope for further delay, in the shape of an appeal.

About the only thing that seemed certain last night was that the row over Norfolk’s burning issue shows no sign of running out of steam any time soon.

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25 comments

I am very familiar with the autoclave technology referenced by Mr Brandford. What has not been said is that you still have to do something with the cooked mush that comes out the other end - which can be very costly. There was also a death at the Sterecycle plant in February this year due to safety issues - not a good reference plant if you ask me. Incineration is still the best value waste treatment technology and were it not for political vote sniffing in West Norfolk, i am sure the Norfolk incinerator would have been granted its PFI credits by now.

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Yorkshire

Thursday, November 17, 2011
I am very familiar with the autoclave technology referenced by Mr Brandford. What has not been said is that you still have to do something with the cooked mush that comes out the other end - which can be very costly. There was also a death at the Sterecycle plant in February this year due to safety issues - not a good reference plant if you ask me. Incineration is still the best value waste treatment technology and were it not for political vote sniffing in West Norfolk, i am sure the Norfolk incinerator would have been granted its PFI credits by now.

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Yorkshire

Thursday, November 17, 2011
You make a very good point Fenscape. I think the council rather thought this was a fait accompli. Then those pesky people from West Norfolk got in the way. Wouldn't life be so much better without voters. I don't live in West Norfolk but I am overcome with admiration at the way that you have fought this every step of the way. Because it was not only the awful incinerator you were fighting, it was the removal of your democratic rights. And even if I agreed with the incinerator, which I most certainly don't, the sinister way in which these idiots on the County Council have behaved means all people who believe in democracy have to stand shoulder to shoulder with you in what is a fight that goes far beyond just the incinerator. Perhaps CCHQ is finally realising this.

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alecto

Monday, November 14, 2011
Farmer & Landowner Bill Borrett need to stick to driving his tractor because what knowledge he has on producing electricity from waste is Nil. It is not efficient or economical The costs are to expensive. ie building transporting the waste from all over the county(fuel, most bulk lorries consumption approx 7-8 miles per gallon.getting back to the Pfi funding we will save 149 millon 169-20 =149 because NCC jumped the gun

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LFB

Monday, November 14, 2011
Hmmm, I wonder if Borrett has been rifling down the back of every old sofa at County Hall in an effort to find £169m just 'lying around' to get this thing off the ground in the midst of furious cuts and the biting withdrawal of key services throughout Norfolk? Also, has anyone else noticed he is arrogantly ignoring all of the planning and permitting objections that are still in the pipeline? Why Bill, anyone would think this was a done deal already!!!

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Fenscape

Sunday, November 13, 2011
Daisy Roots, you are looking at trying to solve a problem by addressing its symptoms, rather than the root cause, here have a painkiller for your pain, is an approach taken by many eminent doctors and consultants, along with less eminent councillors and politicians. If there is packaging being used that cannot be reused or recycled, it should not be allowed. If NCC, WNBC, Henry Bellingham, and other MP's and government ministers had an ounce of real initiative, concern for public spending or the environment, they would have lobied for laws years ago limiting materials that could be used, thereby saving £millions, not holding secret talks with incinerator companies costing taxpayers further millions. It is not rocket science, it’s really rather simple, it just requires a different approach, rather than the more popular blinkered one.

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Honest John

Saturday, November 12, 2011
Bill Borrow made a statement today on BBC Norfolk that going it alone may be cheaper to build the burner. This statement just shows how corrupt our County Council are. We were told the price of the burner will increase in price if the contract was not signed by a certain date. Also Derrick Murphy will be committing political suicide for all Tories in West Norfolk if the burner gets built. This tells me there must be financial incentive for some County councillors.

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CleanAirPlease

Saturday, November 12, 2011
Forget about the ineptitude of Councillors& Defra. We can't wait another 5 years to find a solution acceptable to the majority, and what defines a majority?

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bedoomed

Saturday, November 12, 2011
Bill Borritt is now Silly Billy or is that too polite?

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maryjane

Saturday, November 12, 2011
Since when have the Norfolk Council felt that they are higher than the Government ?? They have to listen to the Government and not go off and ride roughshot over the west Norfolk community , we have said NO !! X

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Kathy Palmer

Saturday, November 12, 2011
Sorry Cllr Borrett, it does not matter how many times you say "With or without PFI credits, this proposal represents good value for money" we all know it simply is not true! Go and talk to the other district councils and together look at alternatives. Perhaps then you will be able to get yourself, and your cabinet colleagues, out of the disasterous situation that you all currently find yourselves in.

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Joy, King's Lynn

Saturday, November 12, 2011
"If we don't build it, it will cost more than building it" I can't believe you said that Mr Borrett. Seriously folks, the cabinet not only doesn't have a business brain to share amongst them, they don't have a business neurone. To negotiate a deal like that is simply ridiculous and they should all take a long walk off into the sunset and let my springer spaniel run the County Council. He would do a much better job (and he's nice).

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alecto

Saturday, November 12, 2011
Daisy Roots is David Harwood!!!!

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maryjane

Saturday, November 12, 2011
I am actually becoming less depressed ! There appears to be other solutions to burning waste and people are starting to talk about them - if you see Bill please tell him !

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depressed Norfolk

Saturday, November 12, 2011
At last the tide is beginning to turn in our favour; government ministers are now listening to us - the people of West Norfolk. The NCC are on the back foot and also on the defensive. We need to keep up the impedance and continue fighting to prevent this fiery monster being built.

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davidskerritt1

Saturday, November 12, 2011
Murphy has now 'morphed' into 'Chemical Ali'

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maryjane

Saturday, November 12, 2011
Now come on folks, stop being nasty to poor old Bill Borrett! How do you expect him to understand about different technologies when he hasn't even twigged that he's the "sacrificial lamb" yet?

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Christine

Saturday, November 12, 2011
I understand that Daisy Roots is the nom de plume of a senior Councillor involved in the Incinerator initiative It appears his identity is widely known. Reading his comment and those of Councillor Borrett, as an industrial chemist myself , it is clear that we are dealing with two people of very low intellectual aspirations, and they would be advised to be guided by those of recognized abilities in the field of waste management before exposing their woeful lack of knowledge. Any scheme that is promoted by people of such poor judgment, including one who will not even write under his own name , is surely to be avoided .

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David Press

Saturday, November 12, 2011
Norfolk County Council is an autocratic dictatorship, an unaccountable bunch of Tories who believe they are untouchable. Over confident of retaining power from their minority rural voters they are ignoring the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the people. Where is the democracy and what happened to localism?

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Matt Stevenson

Saturday, November 12, 2011
Why do you want yet another vote on this website? Is it so that the NCC and CorBlimey Wheelerdealers can gauge the figures desperately looking for another spin opportunity? This just shows how disrespectful you are to ignore the opposition by asking such a pathetic question! Over 65,000 have already voted Chris, why do you think their opinion would change? If anything, even more are against the incinerator than before. Very little support came from the whole of Norfolk's Parish Councils, and you ask Press on or look at alternatives? Sadly, this is the quality of reporting we have become used to. For Borrett to want to go ahead without proving support is not putting his brain cell to good use. Blundering Borrett is making the Borough Council look smart and with Daubney & Long at the helm, that has taken some doing!

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Honest John

Friday, November 11, 2011
Mr Borrett refers to the Borough Council's investigations and says, “One of them involves steam but they won’t tell us where the steam comes from or how squirting steam at rubbish changes it.” They shouldn't need to tell Cllr Borrett. Someone responsible for spending £650million of taxpayers money on a waste project, should recognise a waste autoclave system when its described to them. And this is the man who states the alternatives aren't viable. It is clear he doesn't even understand what they are! Astounding!

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RJB

Friday, November 11, 2011
Mr Borrett refers to the Borough Council's investigations and says, “One of them involves steam but they won’t tell us where the steam comes from or how squirting steam at rubbish changes it.” They shouldn't need to tell Cllr Borrett. Someone responsible for spending £650million of taxpayers money on a waste project, should recognise a waste autoclave system when its described to them. And this is the man who states the alternatives aren't viable. It is clear he doesn't even understand what they are! Astounding!

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RJB

Friday, November 11, 2011
Mr Borrett refers to the Borough Council's investigations and says, “One of them involves steam but they won’t tell us where the steam comes from or how squirting steam at rubbish changes it.” They shouldn't need to tell Cllr Borrett. Someone responsible for spending £650million of taxpayers money on a waste project, should recognise a waste autoclave system when its described to them. And this is the man who states the alternatives aren't viable. It is clear he doesn't even understand what they are! Astounding!

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RJB

Friday, November 11, 2011
Oh please! Are there really people still around in Norfolk that think that Bill Borrett's latest charm offensive is going to detract from the spin and trickery that he is spouting? Half the problem here is that NCC have been less than honest and forthright throughout this process and if they don't have the trust of the people then it doesn't matter how pink and fluffy they try to make themselves - they are just perceived as evasive, underhand and in the pocket of the private sector. Two facts came to light yesterday... NCC stands to pay a cancellation fee if this whole thing fails despite telling the people of Norfolk that no such contract had been entered into. FACT. Plus, they have said that 65% percent of people WANT the incinerator despite extrapolating this figure from a sample rigged phone poll of less than 2,000 people in order to con the population into thinking that there is consensus where none actually exists. FACT. Thank goodness that Caroline Spelman has the experience behind her to see through their little game - set a Tory to catch a Tory......

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Fenscape

Friday, November 11, 2011
Cllr Borrett If you just ask I am sure the Borough Council will tell you. Phone or e-mail Mr Brandford arange a meeting with him and I am sure he'll tell you. I expect some of your senior officers know of sterecycle as they will have had training and briefing sessions as they were part of the DEFRA Waste Infrastructure Development Programme. Stop being so silly and talk sensibly and progress can be made. I take it that Mr Borrett does want progress or does he want try and carry on regadless of Mrs Spellman and the calls from local tory MP's and the votes of 65,500 oridnary people?

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The Bin Man

Friday, November 11, 2011