Page 15 - Town & Around - November 2021

Tel: 01485 540620 email: editor@townandaround.net Town & Around November 2021 15
NORFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL DUCKS OUT OF OBJECTING

TO NORFOLK BORDER INCINERATOR
Alexandra Kemp
orfolk County Council have not
learnt from their past mistakes when
Nit comes to listening to West Norfolk.
County Hall Conservatives recently voted
against my Council Motion for a forthright
objection to MVV Energie’s proposed
625,000 tonne mass-burn incinerator, on the
Norfolk border, in Wisbech. More than twice
the size of the South Lynn incinerator that
Conservatives once wanted.
Sense and reason on 27th September came
from the Opposition. Jamie Osborn of the
Greens and Lib Dem Rob Colwell seconded
my Motion, supported by Labour and
Independents. 21 Votes for, 39 against, 7 (
Conservative) abstentions.
So Norfolk flunked a golden opportunity to
stand shoulder-to-shoulder with West Norfolk
Borough Council, Fenland District Council
and Cambridgeshire County Council, who all
objected in principle to the Incinerator
Facility.
The County Council has let everyone down.
It is shameful NCC has broken the No
Incineration in Norfolk Policy that the
Rainbow Alliance introduced in 2015 after
the Council voted to end its South Lynn
incinerator contract at a cost to ratepayers of
£34m in compensation to Cory Wheelabrator.
Cabinet Waste Member, Andy Grant,
admitted the oversupply of incinerators in the
UK. The facility is not needed. So who is
pulling the strings at County Hall? Who still
wants West Norfolk as a dumping ground?

CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLORS Site of the proposed incinerator - image credit mvv-medworthchp.co.uk
VOTE ONE WAY AT THE BOROUGH
AND ABSTAIN AT COUNTY
All West Norfolk Conservative twin-
hatters (elected members who sit on both
councils) voted in favour of the No Incinerator
Motion at the Borough Council this February
and abstained in September’s County Council
vote, and need to acquire a more courageous
stance. What it would look like - image credit mvv-medworthchp.co.uk
Councillors in the Conservative party go in
fear of the party whips. They are pressured to successfully fight the South Lynn Incinerator. fell and was replaced by the Rainbow
vote the way ‘the Group’ decides, even when I was elected County Councillor in the By- Alliance, led by Labour, in May 2013. The
it means voting against the interests of their Election late in 2012, on the precise ticket of Council finally rejected the contract for
own residents. This practice should now end. stopping the 250,000 tonne incinerator. Planning Failure in 2014. If only
I faced this when I was in the Labour Group. 93% of West Norfolk voters - 65,000 - had Conservatives had listened to Lynn at the
It was not permitted to vote for Anti- overwhelmingly rejected Norfolk County outset, the £34 million cost would have been
Incinerator Motions proposed by other Council’s proposals for a mass-burn waste avoided.
groups. incinerator in South Lynn, in the Borough If we don’t learn from history …..
However, I voted in favour of all the Anti- Council 2011 poll. To join the fight against this new incinerator
Incinerator Motions. If I can do it, so can they. But the ruling Conservative Group on proposal contact me at:
How did your County Councillor vote on Norfolk County Council would not listen and County Councillor Alexandra Kemp
27 September? granted itself Planning Permission in 2012. County Division: Clenchwarton and
The powerful West Norfolk campaign King’s Lynn South
DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT DÉJÀ VU reached across party lines - KLWIN, Michael T: 01553 630329
I set up the Gang of Six County Councillors de Whalley, Dr Martin Little, Adrian M: 07920 286636
– Richard Bird, John Dobson, Tim East, Bramwell; GMB, Charles Joyce, Jo Rust, E: alexandra.kemp.cllr@norfolk.gov.uk
Andrew Boswell, Toby Coke and myself – to Henry Bellingham, Nick Daubney.
The Conservative Administration quickly Photo of Alexandra Kemp: Ian Burt