Members of a campaign group say they are committed to stopping an incinerator from being built in their rural village. RAGE Against The Incinerator is a group of residents working to prevent an incinerator from being built at the former colliery site in Bilsthorpe.
RAGE members claim they have been contacted by local authority planners who confirmed that Vital Energi Ltd would be submitting a planning application within the next six to eight weeks for the incinerator, and that this would not require a full consultation to be carried out.
The group have environmental concerns over the incinerator contributing to climate change. They claim the Bilsthorpe incinerator, which will have 60m high chimneys, is expected to burn up to 200,000 tonnes of waste each year, and an incinerator emits around one tonne of CO2 for every tonne incinerated, which means up to 200,000 tonnes of CO2 could be created per year.
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Councillor Rhona Holloway, representing Bilsthorpe, added: "It is something that I am very opposed to, and it is something that I am working on with the RAGE campaign group. I've been to the meetings and I have been talking to various people to try and get people on board to fight the plans. I've been working with RAGE and I will continue to work with RAGE to fight it."
Residents are also concerned that hundreds of new homes are being built in and around the village, and claim many new home buyers would be unaware of the incinerator plans. RAGE members feel that people should be recycling more, rather than burning more.
Approval for a gasification plant at Bilsthorpe was previously granted in 2016 after a public inquiry when the secretary of state for communities and local government called-in the decision to grant planning by Nottinghamshire County Council.
Tony Smith, a member of Bilsthorpe RAGE Against the Incinerator, said: "We were saddened to hear from planners that Vital Energi Ltd will be submitting a planning application for an incinerator to be built in Bilsthorpe. Years ago approval was given to Peel to build a gasification incinerator, but because the incinerator technology failed in Tees Valley, the development did not proceed.
"A new application is expected shortly from Vital Energi Ltd who do not have to carry out a full consultation, due to the previous application submitted by Peel. We would urge the local government to reconsider this, particularly as many years have passed, and multiple housing developments (almost next door to the incinerator site) have been developed."
"We wish there was only one reason why we are saying no to an incinerator in our little village, but unfortunately with an incinerator comes multiple problems. The impact of traffic on our local roads, particularly up to 600 HGVs a week entering our village."
Tony continued: "This not only damages the road infrastructure, but we also know that fatalities with HGVs increase by 17% on small local roads. Worryingly the particles from an incinerator can be harmful to our health, and these particles have been documented up to 10km away from an incinerator.
"We have seen in other areas problems with noise and smell. More importantly we know that climate change is a huge problem for everyone, and the emissions from an incinerator adds significantly to this problem.
"We have also seen that we have more incinerators than burnable waste, so what will be burnt on this incinerator, material that should be recycled? Bilsthorpe has had its fill of waste being delivered to it, and we are saying 'No to the incinerator at Bilsthorpe', we don't need it and we don't want it, and we urge everyone in the surrounding areas and our local planning team to support us, as this will have an impact on them too."
Matt Lamb, Director of Planning and Growth at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “Nottinghamshire County Council will make the decision on this application as the relevant authority. Newark and Sherwood District Council is a consultee and we will carefully consider the application through our planning process and then respond accordingly.”
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