Decision on North Horsham incinerator plans due tomorrow

Britaniacrest Recycling is seeking permission for a Recycling, Recovery and Renewable Energy facility at the former Wealden Brickworks in Langhurstwood Road.

Its application will go before West Sussex County Council’s Planning Committee on Tuesday, with officers’ recommending approval.

According to the company the new facility would ‘provide a sustainable alternative to landfill disposal, avoid the use of fossil fuels and save primary materials’.

Britaniacrest’s first application was withdrawn to address concerns about the scale of the new building and its impact on the area’s landscape.

But campaigners have urged county councillors to reject the fresh application.

A spokesman for No Incinerator 4 Horsham said: “Nothing much has changed from the original application, in fact councillors have not been provided with any independent reports or given any independent expert talks about the impact of burning on recycling. They are going to make a decision on Tuesday blind to the full facts and long term environmental ramifications.”

Keith Taylor, a Green MEP for the South East, added his ‘wholehearted solidarity in their fight’.

He said: “Incineration is the filthiest way to produce electricity and goes against the Government’s advice to local councils on decarbonising local energy production.”

“We urgently have to reduce the amount of waste we’re producing and prioritise recycling, reuse, composting and other more creative solutions.”

Roger Smith, from the Campaign to Protect Rural England’s Sussex branch, has warned that the list of substances which would be discharged from the incinerator reads like ‘an environmental horror story’.

But according to Britaniacrest’s leaflet available on its website the proposed facility will have ‘no adverse impact on human health’.

It reads: “The gases from the combustion process will be cleaned to meet stringent environmental regulations by being injected with lime to neutralise acid gases, activated carbon to capture organic pollutants and then filtered to remove particulates and dusts. The residues captured by the filters will be taken from the site in sealed containers and disposed of at a suitably licensed facility.

“The remaining cleaned gases will be finally released to atmosphere through the chimney.”

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