A resounding ‘No!’

May 16 2008 by Paul Mannion, Chester Chronicle

THERE was standing room only as residents gave their reasons for opposing a waste recovery park on their doorstep.

Wednesday’s evening session of the public inquiry into Peel Holdings’ waste recovery park proposed for Ince Marshes was so crowded people had to peer through windows at the back of the room.

More than a dozen individuals registered to give evidence at the public meeting on Wednesday night, while 200 residents sat in the audience.

Speaking at Forest Hills Hotel, Cllr Les Ford said: “This is a giant waste dump made for the financial benefit of the owners of the site.

“It won’t serve the community, it won’t help the environment, and it won’t benefit our society in any way.”

Helsby High School student Rebecca Bell, 17, of Kingsley, spoke on behalf of the schools in the area.

She said: “I’m not a professor, but I do know that increased traffic is dangerous. It’s dangerous for young children, older children, adults, everybody.

“There are 16 schools near the site and these are surely going to be badly affected by smells and smoke.

“This poor example of damaging our planet will have the most detrimental effect. It will be the problems of generations to follow.”

Leanne Amos, 13, of Ince, said: “In a few years I will be revising for important exams, I hope to be a barrister, it’s quiet at the moment but if the plan goes ahead it would be difficult for me to focus because of the noise. I think the fumes could affect young people.”

Thomasine Buckeridge, of Manley Road, Alvanley, said: “I have got an article here from last week’s Chronicle about a fire at a recycling plant and nearby residents were advised to keep their windows shut. It happens, things go wrong.

“My husband did not buy me diamonds for Christmas, he bought breathing masks. I shouldn’t have had to have this mask, I should have had diamonds.”

Chairman of protest group Cheshire Against Incinerators (CHAIN) Brian Cartwright, an engineer and scientist, said: “I am frankly amazed that in this day and age anybody wants to build an incinerator complex.

“It will be out of date in fiveto-10 years but we will be stuck with it for 25 years or more.”

Dr Elizabeth Agnew, a Helsby and Elton GP, said: “Incinerators are expensive to build and need a constant supply of fuel meaning there is little incentive to reduce waste and increase recycling.

“They make people anxious. I meet people every day living with ill health. They ask me was it something I did? Is it where I live? Of course, no one really knows but you try telling the lady I saw yesterday who has lung cancer and has never smoked that air pollution is safe.

“We used to dump it in the ocean until we realised the effects on the marine environment. Then we put it in landfill and we have realised that’s no good either. So now we want to put it into the very air we breathe?

Roger Maher, owner of The Carriage Barn, Helsby, said: “We are situated approximately as the ash would fly from the development.

“There’s a huge demand for people to come to the area and the proposal is going to cause considerable damage.”

Tomorrow (Friday) is the final day of the public inquiry when speakers include Chester City Cllr Andrew Garman and Kelsall Parish Council.