Shore Road developers to take legal advice

Jul 30 2010 by Reporter, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

THE company behind the controversial £100 million Perth incinerator project is taking legal advice over the council’s “independent investigation” into the Shore Road plans.

Holden Environmental Ltd. revealed that the local authority probe was conducted without any contact with them or their agents – and claimed that it lacked impartiality and objectivity.

And in a letter to Perth and Kinross Council chief executive Bernadette Malone, the company states: “Having read the report in detail, we find that its descriptions are incorrect in many important respects and prejudicial to the chance of the project getting a fairer understanding from the public or a fair hearing by others during the current appeal process.”

Planners initially gave the waste-to-energy facility, to be operated by Grundon Waste Management, outline planning consent without referral to any council committee.

But as details of its size and capacity began to emerge – a towering 260-foot high smoke stack would have dominated the site – a long-running and unprecedented “Stop the Incinerator” campaign was mounted by angry opponents.

The application for “reserved matters” was subsequently refused by the council’s development control committee last November, prompting an appeal to the Scottish Government.

That appeal is to be decided on the basis of written submissions and a final decision is expected in the autumn.

The council subsequently launched an inquiry into their handling of the whole affair and their 80-page report was made public last month.

It concluded that although “significant errors” were made in their handling of the outline plans, no council planner was “grossly negligent” in discharging their duties – and no disciplinary action would be taken against any employees.

Holdens add in their letter to Ms Malone: “The report ... is based entirely on descriptions of events supplied by council officials and what the investigation gleaned from the official’s files.

“This seems to us not to be an impartial conclusion and the lack of objectivity is further compounded by the fact that the ‘investigators” are retired local government officials known to those who appointed them.”

One of Holden’s main points of concern is that the report gives the impression time and time again that they were “deliberately ambiguous” and had disguised their intentions by suggesting, at the outline stage, that the proposal was of very small scale, with the energy-to-waste facility only an ancillary to the traditional waste handling and recycling operation.

That was despite identifying the Shetland Energy Recovery Plant as an important reference point to which the planning officers could have accessed via the internet or contacting their counterparts in Shetland for information and/or guidance.

The letter also points out: “Within the report a number of instances arise where inference is made that we at Holden’s had a hidden agenda insinuating that we had already made arrangements with Grundon prior to the application for a ‘substantial incineration plant’ on the site.

“We categorically deny that we met or discussed the matter with Grundon Waste Management prior to the granting of outline approval.

“In fact, dialogue did not take place until at least three months after the outline approval was received.

“We are also accused of underhandedness in regard to the choice of technology likely to be used in the project. The report suggests that it had always been our intention to use incineration despite our reference to consideration of gasification, etc.

“This inference is also groundless. We at Holden’s had always held an open mind on the subject but had to defer to Grundon’s as to the choice of technology.

“Had the investigators’ report remained a council internal document, we would have probably been inclined to ignore the unfortunate slant and innuendo.

“However, with the document in the public domain, these groundless comments become of greater concern and will be subject to legal scrutiny/advice.”

The letter concludes: “No doubt much of this extensive report will prove to be of value to the Planning Department through the recommendations of change in protocol and procedures.

“However, we shall welcome a response to the issues we have raised and which are of concern to ourselves and Grundon Waste Management Limited.”