As we enter the final stages of the Environment Agency’s consultation to determine whether to issue an environmental permit for the proposed Incinerator at Marley, it is important now more than ever that people make their views heard. As the Member of Parliament for Keighley and Ilkley, this is by far one of the largest issues which has crossed my desk and I thank all who have contacted me on this issue. I am completely opposed to the incinerator and I do believe that if approved there could be dire and lasting consequences for our area.
The consultation process has now been extended by the Environment Agency by a further two weeks, after representation from myself and the Aire Valley Against Incineration campaign group – with whom I have been working closely. Due to our efforts, the consultation period has now been extended in total by three and a half weeks with the revised deadline now being Wednesday 12th August.
It is vital that as many people as possible respond to the consultation, making a clear, concise and unified case as to why the Environment Agency should not grant an environmental permit for this development.
It is incredibly frustrating that Bradford Council granted planning permission for this development back in 2015. With planning granted by Bradford, our only option is to now object to the environmental permit from being issued. A permit which will licence the proposed incinerator’s operations. It is clear that Bradford Council seem to have little regard for residents in our area and it has become clear that not only is our Keighley and Ilkley constituency being utilised as a cash cow for Bradford Council’s city centre vanity projects, it is also seen by Bradford as the place to situate an undesirable project – which will emit toxic emissions into the air. In my view, this project should have never been granted planning permission in the first place and this clearly demonstrates that Keighley and Ilkley would be better off outside of the Bradford Metropolitan District Council area.
It is difficult to see the logic behind building a waste incinerator at the bottom of a very prominent valley with the topography such as ours, on the edge of a very busy and densely populated town and within 300 meters of a nursery school. Not only will the project have a detrimental impact on our area, but it will also impact neighbouring towns and villages. I am therefore writing a joint submission in response to the Environment Agency’s consultation with my colleague Philip Davies MP for Shipley. Much of Philip’s constituency will also be affected should this project get the green light.
There are four main areas to this proposal which need to be properly scrutinised during this consultation; emissions, topography, odour, and the consultation process. I have serious concerns with regards to how the Environment Agency may monitor emissions being released from the site and how they will carry out effective enforcement action should the applicant be in breach of any permitted rights that may be granted. Too often do projects on this scale get away with breaching permits with little to no recourse from the bodies set up to regulate them. Indeed, we all remember the Volkswagen emissions scandal of 2015. Do we have the right assurances from the Environment Agency that a similar event will not happen?
Building an incinerator at the bottom of a valley poses its own challenges. The topography of the wider area beyond the proposed site needs properly assessing before an environmental permit should even be considered. Ilkley Moor is only four miles away from the proposed site. The negative implications associated with the incinerator being situated at the bottom of a valley with homes, sports fields and schools in close proximity also needs to be taken into consideration. I have concerns for the residents who live in Riddlesden, East Morton, Thwaites Brow and Long Lee who are all in very close proximity to the proposed site and whose homes are situated higher than the proposed incinerator.
A major factor to the incinerator which I often find is drowned out by other damning details is the odour that this site will emit. The smell of rotting garbage is not a pleasant smell and something which gets trapped in your nostrils for a considerable time. Should this proposed incinerator go ahead, this smell will blight our area on a permanent basis and could potentially have a damning and lasting effect on local tourist amenities, such as the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, the beautiful Ilkley and Haworth moorlands, the breath-taking East Riddlesden Hall and the world-renowned Bronte Parsonage, all of which draw visitors to our area from all over the world and adds immensely to our local economy.
And finally, it is important to note how this consultation has been carried out. I have been very frustrated with how the Environment Agency has conducted the consultation. Very little warning or indication was given by the agency of their decision. In fact, as the MP for the area, I was only given a matter of hours’ notice by the Environment Agency of their ‘minded to approve’ decision before the consultation was due to be launched, and I was told that it was to be an online consultation only. I immediately wrote to their Chief Executive, Sir James Bevan urging him to postpone the consultation and asked that when it is made live, it should be accessible for those who do not have internet access. Whilst the consultation was initially postposed by five days, a further delay to the whole process was not considered. I firmly believe that it is neither right nor fair for a major consultation to be carried out during a worldwide pandemic, knowing full well that residents and campaign groups cannot fully engage with the consultation process. Especially when the Government’s own Environment Department has postposed other consultations due to Covid.
With only a matter of days left until the consultation closing, I cannot stress enough the need for the Environment Agency to refuse the environmental permit for this development and would urge everyone to get involved and respond before Wednesday 15th August.
To take part in the Environment Agency's official consultation on the proposal click here.
