WARRINGTON South prospective Tory MP Andy Carter believes the Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station could provide the ideal brownfield site to create employment opportunities in the future – instead of green belt land.
He says Government plans to end UK coal fired power generation means Fiddler’s Ferry Power station near Penketh could be used as a new employment site within the time frame of the new 20-year local plan for Warrington.
Andy has written to the plant owner, SSE asking them to be clear about their plans for the site, given the government has already made a commitment to end ‘dirty’ fuels electricity production by 2025.
He says it’s a sensible step to look at all the options for brownfield land in the Borough so that the Council are able to make best use of what’s available through to 2037;
“This area has huge potential; we know the site owners have already decided to close one of the four generating units and I am keen that we understand their time line for what comes next, so that the Council can consider how we mitigate the impact on jobs in the area by having a plan for re-using this area”.
“The Council are supposed to be looking ahead over the 20-year period, identifying what land will become available for future use throughout Warrington. The current plan makes few references to Fiddler’s Ferry as a future option, it’s too large to be ignored and could play a critical role in minimising the release of green belt for commercial purposes, this area can’t just stand idle”.
The closure of all coal plants will be mandated within six years’ through the use of a new emissions performance standard, which ministers introduced in 2016. The standard sets a limit on the amount of carbon the plants can emit – 450g CO2 per kW hour – which coal operators could meet only by retrofitting costly carbon capture equipment, meaning coal becomes uneconomical.
Data released by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy earlier this year confirmed that coal fired power generation has continued to fall over the last 12 months with more than 1,000 hours of coal free production since January. The latest bank holiday weekend a new record was set of 255 continuous hours without resorting to coal.
Andy says he welcomes the steps the government is taking to change the way we create electricity;
“Climate change is the most profound environmental challenge that we face as a nation, cutting carbon emissions by moving to renewable energy is part of a wider plan to achieve clean growth. The wider UK context sits alongside the actions we must take locally to improve air quality in Warrington to reduce the immediate health risks to everyone living here”.
Andy Carter at the Fiddler’s Ferry site
3 Comments
Oh wow. Tory candidate realises the obvious. From the Preferred Development Option: “There is not currently sufficient certainty for it to be allocated as a development site, but given the scale of the site, this will need to be kept under review and the site’s future has been taken into account in the Council’s approach to flexibility of land supply and safeguarding”..
(A bit of history too. His predecessor Chris Butler was in favour of fitting desulphurisation equipment to Fiddlers Ferry, until he went to South Africa as a guest of their coal industry, and instead then advocating importing low-sulphur South African coal.)
Putting politics to one side, which i know will be difficult for you Steve as a local Labour Cllr – is there any chance the “Council’s approach to flexibility of land supply and safeguarding”..could include removing development of the Green Belt out of the Local Plan please? Your Labour MP and all the political parties int he south of the town and many in the North, are calling for this. We are one of the most polluted town’s in the country and some of the worst traffic issues. Your hand went up like a shot to support the Local Plan – have you given any thoughts for the consequences for future generations? Is there any need for sarcasm and digging up things from decades ago going to help the situation? Let’s focus on the task in hand – putting health before wealth!
Cllr Parish’s response to the content of your article Gary contributes little if anything to the ongoing debate on the impact of the intended Local Plan on the health and well being of the people in this borough. The sooner we rid ourselves of adversarial politics and make decisions on the basis of consensus across the political spectrum the better. Pejorative one liners, rubbishing political opponents and at times members of the public (although not this time) are no substitute for reasoned and polite debate. Whatever actions are taken now, will have a lasting and irreversible impact on the town and its residents. And as you have inferred we urgently need our environment to improve health wise not worsen.