Taggart star Colin McCredie voices concern over Perth incinerator plans

Nov 13 2009 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

PERTH residents and businesses are fearing a whitewash as they await the publication today of a report which could seal the fate of plans for a giant waste incinerator in the Fair City.

Concerns of a bias in favour of Oxford-based waste company Grundon escalated when the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency admitted to objectors that its officers have not carried out an in-depth review into the proposal for the £100 million plant.

They also accidentally omitted to mention in their report that smells pervading from the incinerator would, indeed, be a problem.

“We have now met with SEPA to discuss the formal complaint we lodged against the agency highlighting their unforgivable negligence in allowing Grundon to ride roughshod and unchecked throughout the planning process, refusing to address numerous basic environmental issues,” Brian Raine, chairman of Bridgend, Gannochy and Kinnoull Community Council, told the PA.

“The SEPA representatives conceded that a thorough review had not been conducted and that information they had collected had somehow not made it into their report.

“As a result they have, in fact, allowed Grundon to dictate what the councillors will be told in today’s (Friday) report.”

With just 10 days until the application goes before Perth and Kinross Council’s development control meeting, fears for the Fair City's future are being voiced across all sectors of the community.

Taggart star Colin McCredie, who began his career working at Perth Theatre's box office, yesterday expressed his concerns to the PA.

He explained: “Perth was a great place to grow up. It’s where I’m from and it so richly deserves its title of the Fair City.

“I find it morally reprehensible that the council can even consider allowing this monstrosity to be built in the town.

“The very idea of a toxic incinerator looming over Perth flies in the face of its reputation as a centre for the arts and tourism, with its residents enjoying a high quality of life.

“If we lose that reputation, what's left for the town?”

Colin's concerns about the ability of Perth to continue to attract visitors if the incinerator is given the go-ahead might indeed be well founded.

Perth-based business woman Dawn Cotton Fuge has threatened to move her business – and her family – if the incinerator gets the go ahead.

She explained: “I run an international business from my premises on George Street as one of the UK’s premier semi-precious gemstone retailers.

“I also run two large-scale trade fairs at the Concert Hall every year, attracting more than 80 exhibitors, as well as thousands of visitors to Perth.

“Perth is exquisitely beautiful and a very comfortable and happy place to live. It is my adopted home.

“It deeply saddens me that something like this could happen to sully this town and literally cast a shadow over a place that so many of us care about.

“It would be a devastating development that almost does not bear thinking about

“I can say categorically that if a toxin-emitting incinerator were to be built in the town, I would not only move my family out of Perth but I would relocate my retail business and the Scottish Bead Fair to Edinburgh.”

l To add your voice to the outrage against the incinerator, sign the Revoke the Smoke petition in the PA front office and be sure to make your presence felt at the council’s development control committee meeting at 1pm in the Gannochy Suite at the Dewars Centre, Glover Street, on Tuesday, November 24.