100+ attend Ivybridge Incinerator Public Meeting

Yesterday’s Ivybridge public meeting held to raise awareness of Viridor’s plans for an incinerator just south of Lee Mill was an incredible success. Over 100 people attended the meeting with dozens being turned away as the hall had no more space. Thank you to you if you could attend and Frankie and I are sorry if you were not able to get into the hall – the strength of feeling was just incredible.

After three weeks of refusing to attend on questionable grounds, Virdor sent two people, who were unable to respond to most of the questions put by local residents. Viridor promised to share all the answers on their plans with local residents and the ecoivy.org protest website. Viridor’s strategy for dealing with residents’ concerns is now in tatters. Holding a few public exhibitions in nicely controlled environments, distributing a few leaflets and then meeting a few local political leaders may be enough to satisfy planners that the community has been involved but it is not enough to ensure that the community is fully engaged in the process. Viridor missed a trick yesterday by not sending someone who could advocate and explain the technical need for the plant in plain english. Too many of these arguments are being obscured behind technical language and abbreviations.

WHAT NEXT?

It is clear to me that the community has spoken resoundingly and passionately that they will oppose Viridor’s incinerator plans. If they had thought that they would be able to push through this incinerator without opposition they are now surely mistaken. But yesterday’s public meeting wasn’t just a shot across the bows for Viridor, it should be a warning to our local politicians that the public expect them to fight on their behalf against Viridor’s plans.

I was glad that a number of residents raised the conflict of interests between Ivybridge’s local councillor on Devon County Council, Cllr Roger Croad, being at the same time the Executive member responsible for waste, the chair of the South West Waste Partnership that is looking for a new location for an incinerator and Ivybridge’s Town Councillor who should be opposing the plans. We also need our MP, Gary Streeter, to start actively opposing plans for any incinerator at New England Quarry. It is clear that local politicians have known about plans for an incinerator at Lee Mill for many years and it was only through Labour bringing this to the attention of a wider audience that they are doing anything about it proactively.

The campaign has now just begun. Get involved. Write to Gary Streeter asking him to oppose the incinerator, write to your local Tory Councillor asking them to oppose the incinerator, join the mailing list at ecoivy.org – the protest website run by a local resident and tell your neighbours, workmates and family about Viridor’s plans.

We can and must stop this incinerator. We don’t have much time – so let’s get to work.

Read the Herald’s coverage of the meeting here.

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