Legal bid on incinerator

Jun 5 2009 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

PERTH MP Pete Wishart yesterday claimed the “absurd and unwanted” £100 million Shore Road incinerator project should be stopped in its tracks.

He has presented Perth and Kinross Council lawyers with evidence which, he maintains, indicates the initial planning bid approved under delegated powers was fatally flawed.

And now he’s calling for the local authority to bounce the original application back to the would-be developers.

A vociferous opponent of Grundon Waste Management’s controversial plans to create a massive waste to energy plant with a 260-foot stack on the Shore Road, between the River Tay and the North Inch, Mr Wishart said: “I believe the council has no option but to not determine the application and ask the developer to re-submit plans in a fresh application, along with a full Environmental Impact Assessment.

“New expert legal opinion blows the case for the Shore Road incinerator out of the water. There is simply no way the council can now proceed in considering this issue.

“I have presented the local authority with legal opinion stating that outline planning permission for an incinerator of this size should not have been given without a statutory Environmental Impact Assessment.

“This clearly did not happen in this case and that means it cannot be properly considered at the more detailed 'reserved matters' stage. It also breaks European Justice rulings on environmental assessments.”

Mr Wishart believes this legal opinion indicates planning authorities receiving applications likely to have environmental consequences must carry out a “Screening Exercise” to establish whether an Environmental Impact Assessment has to be carried out at the outline stage. That did not happen.

He said the legal letter handed to council lawyers maintained the local authority was not in a position to lawfully determine the current application and their only option was to return the reserved matters application to Grundon.

It has emerged the Shore Road development would handle 90,000 tonnes annually but in giving it the green light under delegated powers three years ago a planning officer admitted there was “no detail” of the plant which would process the waste.

Mr Wishart insisted: “There is no support for this incinerator in Perth and the best thing would be for Grundon to simply forget about Perth and look for a new location for their incinerator.’’