STIFLE has not changed its objectives at all - we were established to fight the plan to site a waste management facility on a greenfield site at Ernesettle which is valued for its location and former (and current) recreational use.

ERNESETTLE

Ernesettle is still in the frame to build a massive Incinerator.

The German Company MVV Umwelt had an exhibition at the Parkway Social Club Ernesettle Lane on Monday, 8th February, from 4.00pm-8.00pm . We found out through a small advert in the Herald, yet our Councils would have known but failed to tell us, still scores of people turned up to voice their concerns. We were indeed very impressed with the number of residents who came and asked very searching questions of the bidder and the partnership.

The feedback coming back to us from this meeting is that the Dockyard is MVV Umwelt's preferred site. However it is not that long ago that Coypool was everyone's preferred site until it suddenly vanished off the list. Also the images provided by MVV Umwelt are misleading. They show an Incinerator that is too small and the chimneys are low.

There seemed to be no community plan to enhance Ernesettle in any way. See the exhibition section of the MVV Environment site www.mvvuk.co.uk. There is also a link to a comment form which can be downloaded and returned to MVV Umwelt.

Our campaign to stop Ernesettle being on the list of incinerator sites still has wide support. The whole Labour Council in Plymouth as well as all local MP's in Plymouth and Saltash, even Conservative MP Gary Streeter did not support the use of Ernesettle.

Various other groups, local and national, are also now supporting our fight and of course the growing support of hundreds of local residents on both sides of the River Tamar.

DOCKYARD

MVV Umwelt also held an exhibition at Weston Mill Primary School on the 9th February.

We have had little feedback about this as yet, but the Herald report was headed 'Support for Devonport EfW plant', which seemed to indicate that people who attended were in favour, or just used to the MOD doing as they please. The report indicated that there was some concern by local Councillors Wheeler and Bowie about noise, odour and traffic congestion. The carrot for the locals was that they 'might' get a swimming pool built. Subsequent correspondence suggests that the residents in this area were very much unaware of the exhibition and are now establishing a group to fight the proposal. (See http://www.iiw.org.uk)

STIFLE'S Steering group view on the the Dockyard bid is that no place is suitable for an incinerator. The more we have unravelled the question of 'What to do with waste' the more we think that re-cycling should hold the key and create hundreds of jobs in the process. MVV Umwelt were shocked by Plymouth's lamentably poor record of recycling. Governments throughout Europe are moving in this direction and Plymouth may face fines for not providing enough waste to the Incinerator Contractor over its 25+ years contract it will have to sign up to.

22 February 2010

Over a hundred local residents packed the St Budeaux Community Centre to listen to Stuart Billinghurst outline the reasons why the newly formed group IIW (Incineration Is Wrong) were against an Incinerator being built in the heart of the dense urban area of St Budeaux. The site is the northern edge of dockyard land, in a area just behind the Honda Garage and woodland.

The plant would be a similar distance to Saltash as the Ernesettle site, but mostly hidden from Saltash by Bull Point, except for the chimney, which would be the height of the Tamar Bridge. The chimney pollution levels would be the same as the Ernesettle Site.

See www.thisisplymouth.co.uk for more information.

LEE MILL

Viridor still has its bid in for the site at New England Quarry at Lee Mill, but they have also submitted a planning application to build an incinerator there on their own, irrespective of PFI (Public Finance Initiative) funding. The South West Devon Waste Partnership (SWDWP) will not guarantee that the PFI funding will automatically go to Viridor if they get planning permission and have not, therefore, ruled out the possibility of building a second incinerator. We will know by the summer which bid has been accepted. In the meantime, the Lee Mill group are very active in their fight against the New England Quarry site, as a planning application has already been submitted.

STIFLE writes to councillors

STIFLE wrote to Councillor Vivien Pengelly, leader of Plymouth City Council, in January, copying the correspondence to all Plymouth City, Torbay and Devon County Councillors and the MPs representing Plymouth and South East Cornwall. We also sent the councillors a copy of the report by the British Society for Ecological Medicine (see download section) and an invitation to a meeting of the Zero Waste Alliance UK, held in London on 23 January 2010. Geraldine and Stuart attended the Zero Waste Alliance meeting and will report back on it soon.

The letter and paper can be viewed in the Downloads section.

Press release from the SWDWP on 8 January 2010

The South West Devon Waste Partnership has been notified that SITA is withdrawing its plans for an Energy from Waste facility for a site in South Yard at Devonport.

Mark Turner, Project Director for SWDWP said: "We are naturally disappointed that SITA has had to pull out of the project. There are considerable challenges in putting forward proposals of this nature, and unfortunately it has not been possible to achieve a deliverable solution that will meet the needs of the partnership. There have been a number of complex commercial issues which could not be resolved."

The Partnership now has two companies proposing solutions at three sites:

• MVV Umwelt at Ernesettle and North Yard
• Viridor at New England Quarry

Report from The Herald 18 July 2009

"The South West Devon Waste Partnership (SWDWP) announced yesterday that it had chosen three waste companies - MVV Umwelt, SITA UK and Viridor - to put forward more detailed plans. The three companies have come up with five different plans between them, all for incinerators, at Ernesettle, North Yard and South Yard at Devonport and New England Quarry. MVV Umwelt and SITA have proposals for Ernesettle and Devonport and Viridor has put forward its own site at New England Quarry.

"The final solution and location will be chosen by the partnership. The public will be able to comment when the chosen company submits a planning application."

Representatives from STIFLE had a meeting with officers from SWDWP earlier this week, before this decision was taken, to try to persuade them that the Ernesettle site is totally unsuitable and that incineration was not the best option. Sadly this was met with the response that, as people will not change their habits and recycle more, the Partnership feel that the only way forward is incineration.

Our major concern is that the only site left of the four which had been proposed by the Partnership is Ernesettle. STIFLE will need to step up the campaign and will welcome any assistance. You can download a document outlining STIFLE's concerns about the SWDWP reassurances over the selection of incineration for Ernesettle from our Downloads section.

Background

Devon Waste Partnership have been granted funding by DEFRA to proceed with plans to secure a bidder for a waste management scheme for Plymouth, Torbay and South Devon. A Government inspector has accepted Plymouth City Council's plan to offer land it owns at Ernesettle on the banks of the River Tamar as a suitable site for an incinerator.

Residents on both the Plymouth and Cornish sides of the River Tamar are united in their total opposition to this scheme for many reasons:

• Proximity to housing - the nearest homes will be less than 200 metres away
• Adjacent to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and county wildlife site
• The location at the most westerly point of the county means very long journeys for waste; a more central location would be less-environmentally damaging
• Location in a fog-prone river valley which will inhibit dispersal of the pollution
• High proportion of cardiac and respiratory illness in the local population
• The site was originally earmarked for a community sports facility in an area of deprivation
• The site is adjacent to an armaments store
• The road network is unsuitable for the heavy goods vehicles

You can read more about these concerns in our Further Information section.