Fenland firm joins fight to stop Wisbech incinerator and offers its expertise free of charge

A local architects firm has offered its services free of charge to help defeat plans to build a mega incinerator in Wisbech.

Local town councillors along with representatives from MP Steve Barclay's office met today (Tuesday) with staff at Swann Edwards, to discuss their role as planning agent against the incinerator.

Swann Edwards have generously given us their services for free because they, like most of the community completely support Wisbech Town Council's campaign to oppose this mega-incinerator, planned by MVV Environment Ltd.

The town council has money budgeted to pay for additional advice and support specialists and potentially a legal team if necessary.

Swann Edwards have provided advice on which experts might be brought into the campaign when needed.

A council spokesman said: "We also spoke about how important it is for the correct information to be in the public domain and we are concerned that there is some misinformation out there.

"These are the facts: The proposal for the Incinerator is what is called a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP). It is defined as this because it potentially has the capacity to generate over 50 Megawatts.

"This means that instead of going through the regular planning route, the proposer gets to bypass that and instead the matter is submitted to a part of the Government called the Planning Inspectorate who make a recommendation to the Secretary of State, who then decides on the outcome.

"This process has six stages. Stage one, a pre-application; two acceptance; three pre-examination; four examination; five decision and six post-decision.

"The proposal is currently in the first stage, 'pre-application'. Everything that is happening at the moment, the letters they are sending out, the consultation events the incinerator company are proposing, are all part of this pre-application stage, which there is a statutory duty for them to carry out.

"There is no requirement for the Planning Inspectorate to take into account the comments made in response to the pre-application consultation however the pre-application is an opportunity for the community and other stakeholders to comment on the proposal and potentially influence the project.

"Wisbech Town Council will be making their own representation as part of our campaign to oppose and stop the incinerator and we would also encourage you to make your own views in respect of the proposal clear by commenting on the project using one of the methods set out below.

"Please note that the deadline for representations is August 13 2021. It should be noted that this is not, by any means, the end of the matter. We still have five more phases of this to go through. We absolutely encourage local people to make their views known right now, but there is plenty more to do in the coming months.

"We have been committed to opposing the Incinerator in Wisbech from the outset and will fight it every step of the way."

To comment you can : Email – medworth@mvvuk.co.uk; write to: Freepost MVV or visit the company's website: www.mvv-medworthchp.co.uk