Memorandum submitted by Safety in Waste
and Rubbish Disposal (SWARD) (X31)
I write on behalf of our residents group to
give a community perspective on the effects of the landfill directive.
Since July 2004 our village, Bishop's Cleeve
near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire has been home to one of the
few remaining hazardous waste sites in the UK. We also have three
other landfill sites handling wastes ranging from household to
non-hazardous along the same country lane.
We already receive 50% of the hazardous incinerator
residues landfilled in the UK. The impact of the directive means
that the company will now increase the quantities it handles.
As residents of substantial housing developments beginning just
300 metres from the site we are very unhappy about the current
landfill activities. We anticipated that the sites would be
restored by 2009 in accordance with the original planning permission.
However, due to the high importance now attached to this "strategic"
site and its commercial potential, we know that the operators
intend to apply to continue for at least another 20 years. We
also know how many incinerators are planned for construction and
how this will impact upon our situation. We believe that a major
debate into how we can reduce the need for incineration and safer
methods of dealing with its residues is long overdue.
In addition to the air pollution control residues
being brought here, and all of the associated risks, asbestos
is now also disposed of here. We have grave fears about this.
We have suffered two serious incidents in the last year: two tonnes
of incinerator ash leaked as the result of a mechanical failure
in May and a consignment of hazardous waste engulfed the village
in chemical odours in September. This is in addition to the constant
nuisance we experience from HGVs, dust, noise, flies and landfill
odours.
We find that the Environment Agency is, by its
own admission, not in a position to work proactively. We feel
no confidence in the permitting process that was supposed to be
a more stringent monitoring regime. We feel that IPPC is a process
which will force our village and its residents to bear an even
greater toxic burden and for an even longer timescale.
We wish the inquiry to take into consideration
the impact of reducing the number of hazardous waste sites so
drastically and yet without an evident strengthening of accountability.
14 December 2004
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