March and Rally
A call to action has been issued to people in Hull and Holderness to join a protest march and rally against the building of a waste incinerator at Saltend near Hedon.
The march will assemble in the Co-op car park at 10.30am on Saturday 3rd October and will march up to the top of the Hedon Road flyover. The march will be a family event with a ‘toxic’ theme and prizes will be given away for the best dressed-up ‘anti-toxic’ children.
Local people of all ages are being asked to come out in force and bring banners and placards with their town, village and neighbourhood names on.
Public Meeting Report
At a public meeting last night, campaigning group HOTI maintained that the type of incinerator being built by WRG (Waste Recycling Group) will use “yesterday’s technology” with risks that contaminants and pollutants could have detrimental affects on the environment and health of local people.
The message I gleaned from the meeting attended by over 50 people, was that HOTI is not simply a bunch of “NIMBYs” (Not In My Back Yard) that narrow-mindedly campaigns against something that affects just Hedon and area, but is making a principled stand against a particular method of incineration. The group is not against the idea of waste recycling, but believes there are far more environmentally friendly options available.
HOTI has fought an effective campaign over the last four years and raised awareness of the incinerator issue and have successfully challenged and delayed the plans to build it. The group is continuing to challenge and has started legal and administrative proceedings:
We believe that the contract that the councils have with WRG may not valid, we are challenging the contract via the EU commission.
We believe that the operating permit issued by the Environment Agency has a number of anomalies, the issues are being challenged in the high court with the help of friends of the earth.
From HOTI News Website
However, these challenges do not affect WRG’s current planning permission and operating permit and therefore steps are being taken now to actually build the incinerator. This means that the public show of opposition on October 3rd is even more important.
HOTI BOND
HOTI’s legal challenge MAY need serious funding to contest. If the organisation’s legal challenge fails then the costs to HOTI could be in the region of £5,000 – £20,000 pounds. So people are being asked to support the organisation by buying a HOTI Bond. The funding raised will be deposited in a special bank account and ONLY USED to pay for legal fees. Any monies left after the legal action is complete will be returned to the Bondholders on a pro rata basis.
Amounts have been set for the costs of a bond in order to keep administration simple and clear for people to understand i.e. Family bond £50, Adult bond £20 and a Junior bond £10 but the organisers will accept any amounts.
HOTI Bonds can be purchased from the reception at John P Dennis & Son Ltd, 21, St Augustines Gate, Hedon, HULL, East Yorkshire, HU12 8EU
And finally….
The campaign trail has now been set for the HOTI Campaign and this Hedon Blog asks other local people to show their support!
Is this what we have to look forward to ?
Thursday, 01 October 2009
Residents cry foul
By Tom Cain
RESIDENTS living on Campello’s Els Poblets urbanisation have voiced their concerns over the foul smell being generated by a council-run incinerator and an increase in illnesses on the area.
The incinerator is part of the main refuse collection site that services the Marinas Alta and Baja as well as Campello, and since May of this year it has been pumping out a noxious smell that has made life on Els Poblets unbearable.
Sources say that the plant was allowed to go into operation before it was fully finished and that it lacked three essential systems.
These include a system to take away bad smells, one to allow it to use waste gasses such as methane and carbon dioxide and another to treat contaminated liquids, although since then the first two systems have now been installed and the third is under construction.
Expat Harold H Rogers first contacted Costa Blanca News about the situation two weeks ago.
He said that despite trying to get answers from the council about what is causing the stink, he has got nowhere and this prompted him to write directly to regional president Francisco Camps and PM José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero.
Since speaking to CBNews Mr Rogers began suffering from severe chest pains and has since been admitted to San Juan Hospital, where he had an operation this week.
Another expat resident said that since the smell began she has developed paralysis on one side of her face and others have produced doctors’ notes which show they are suffering with continual sore throats, headaches and runny eyes although there is no medical evidence that links their problems to the smell from the plant.