Battle to stop incinerator is stepped up

Published on Monday 31 December 2007 09:11

A PUBLIC meeting has been organised by residents fighting plans to build a massive £140 million waste incinerator.

Viridor Waste Management is set to submit a planning application within days for the development at a landfill site near Dunbar, East Lothian.

But hundreds of local people are opposing the move, which they say could be "unsafe and uneconomical".

Local MSP Iain Gray and councillors are set to attend the meeting at Innerwick Village Hall on January 14.

Mr Gray said: "I think we can go a long way to recycling and re-using more waste before incineration might be required."

Philip Banks, chairman of Innerwick Residents Against Toxic Emissions, is calling on the council to reject the plans. He said: "Rather than treating waste as near source as possible, they are proposing to transport it many miles, adding to road traffic pollution and discouraging councils from recycling at source."

But Viridor bosses say they have already modified the plans to cut noise, traffic and emission levels. The plant, with a 262ft chimney, would burn waste from across the Lothians and could power 90 per cent of homes in East Lothian.