No decision taken on incinerator

COUNCIL chiefs at Warrington have given an assurance that no decision has yet been taken on a waste incinerator in the town.
But they have defended a decision to spend up to £50,000 on a consultant to advise on the best option for getting rid of the borough’s residual waste.
Coun Alan Litton, (pictured) executive member for Environment and Transport said: “Preparing the business case to guide the council on the best way forward is a specialist activity and we don’t have anyone with this level of knowledge within the council.
“No decisions have been made on our preferred solution and any suggestion that we have a plan to site an energy-from-waste plant on a particular site in the borough is absolute nonsense, fuelled by posturing for electoral gain.”
Coun Litton said when the council consulted with the public in 2008, two thirds agreed that an energy-from-waste plant was the best option.
A quarter were unsure and only 10 per cent disagreed.
“Since then things have moved on and there may well be alternative facilities available outside the borough,” he said.
“This would mean there would be no need to invest in a plant ourselves. The consultant will advise us on the best option.
“It is important to remember that our top priorities are to minimise waste in the first place and re-use and recycle as much as we possibly can. But something has to be done with the residual waste. Landfill is not acceptable and in any case will be horrendously expensive in the future.”
Council leader Ian Marks added: “Our opponents have been putting out mischievous stories that we will be spending up to £1.4 million on consultants. This is drivel and never in a million years would we do that.
“If we thought we needed to spend a large sum on consultants, it would be value for money for the council to employ a fulltime expert.”