Construction's started on the mega incinerator - but is there still hope for Wisbech?

Work begins on the controversial multi-million-pound incinerator, whilst some think it's now inevitable, others still have hope.

It’s something campaigners hoped would never happen, but some now fear is inevitable - a mega incinerator in Wisbech. Work’s begun on the site where more than half a million tonnes of non-recyclable waste will burn each year, with potentially hundreds of lorries coming into the area daily.

Despite opposition from residents, councils, councillors and local Conservative MP Steve Barclay, development consent for the facility was granted in February last year, by then Energy and Net Zero Secretary Claire Coutinho. An environmental permit given in May.

MVV Environment, the German company behind the plans, say the 300 million pound plant on the Algores Way industrial estate is expected to take 3 years to build.

What the incinerator's expected to look like, image MVV Environment

To give you an idea of its size, the turrets, at over 90 metres, will dwarf the spires of nearby landmark Ely Cathedral (66 metres). It’s not only the blot on the landscape that worries people, it’s the heath implications, the smell and the potential impact it could have on Wisbech - changing the Georgian market town forever.

Helen Pentelow, a local business owner and resident, has campaigned against the build since it was proposed 6 years ago, and has made her views clear - it will be ‘a disaster’.

“My business is adjacent to the site and since October there have been lorries constantly coming and going - there’s mud all over the road. And this is just the beginning, the machinery they’ll have to bring along this road, as you can imagine, will be enormous.

“I just think Wisbech will be known for having this monstrosity, an absolute eyesore. We’re a small Georgian market town, it’s not out in the sticks, it’s 100 metres away from by business, it’s hundreds of metres away from a school, if I’d got children there I’d be having kittens."

Recent drone shot, image Richard Murray

She adds her concerns about the potential health implications and smell and local roads being unable to cope with lorries.  MVV Environment says they'll avoid coming through the town, but Helen thinks at times it will be 'inevitable'.   And tells me she knows of house sales that have fallen through. 

I ask resident Terry Wood, who bought a house nearby 3 years ago, if she’d known more about the incinerator at the time, would she have reconsidered. Without hesitation it's a ‘yes’.

Protest in 2024, Wisbech Without Incineration (WisWin) group

“I would have given it a wider berth - we are half a mile away as the crow flies. You look at these things and you expect them to be in the middle of nowhere - the middle of a field somewhere, but I feel it’s been plonked here. I’m in a state of disbelief.

“I know we have to dispose of rubbish - but right next to a school and people’s homes - how is that justified? That’s what angers me, it’s just been you’ve having it here - so tough. It’s disgusting beyond belief."

Campaigners with MP Steve Barclay, Westminster, 2021

There continues to be efforts to oppose it.

Local MP Steve Barclay, who describes it as a ‘stupid idea', is seeking the support of local councillors to sign a pledge to refuse to send waste to the site.  County Councillor Alexandra Kemp has recently written to the government voicing her concerns about air pollution, and remains hopeful, saying, "It is never too late to stop a wrong decision."

And of course Wisbech Without Incineration (WisWin) continues its campaign. Founder Ginny Bucknor describing the incinerator as 'illogical', and remains hopeful that, "Investors will realise it is a bizarre place to build a major infrastructure project, and will pull out."

MVV Environment says the facility will be 'state-of-the-art', and it will be a ‘good neighbour’ to the local community, with promises to monitor harmful toxins and control the smell 'through a number of operational measures, including good housekeeping’.

A spokesperson adding, “Through its experience at its facilities in Germany and the UK, MVV is confident that the various concerns raised from time to time, will prove unfounded in the fullness of time."

It also says they’ll be local employment opportunities, and money donated to local community groups.

Understandably all this does little, if nothing, to ease the concerns of residents, with the whole identity of their town under threat.

With years of the build to come, perhaps, as all the campaigners I've spoken to say, someone will see sense?