A crunch meeting over controversial plans for a huge medical waste incinerator in West Lancashire will take place next week.
Proposals to burn thousands of tonnes of medical waste at an incinerator at Simonswood Industrial Park on Stopgate Lane at Bickerstaffe near Ormskirk, were first put to Lancashire County Council last year. The move could see 3,650 tonnes of hazardous material burned, if the plans from Warrington based applicant Culzean W2E Limited get the green light.
The company says it wants to demolish an existing building, constructing a 'high temperature treatment facility for the management of medical waste'. Documents say 400kg of waste would be treated per hour, all of which is expected to come from within a catchment area of 25 miles, with Aintree and Fazakerley Hospital a 'focal point.'
READ MORE: Lodger repaid man's kindness by killing him in 'appalling and cowardly' attack
The controversial facility would use a process called ‘pyrolysis’, a technique which thermally decomposes materials, according to the applicant. It would also have a 26 metre high chimney, create 12 new jobs, and, according to the company, bring ‘significant economic benefits.’
But the bid has prompted a huge outpouring of anger from some residents. Opponents claim the plans could lead to health risks for those living nearby, including increased risk of congenital abnormalities, cancers and respiratory illnesses as well as long term increased exposure to other illnesses like strokes, lung cancer, fertility issues and cardiovascular problems.
Nine MPs including the former West Lancs MP Rosie Cooper and Sefton Central MP Bill Esterson have voiced concern, along with Bickerstaffe Parish Council, Simonswood Parish Council, Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council, the Campaign to Protect Rural England and a 3,400-strong Facebook campaign group called ‘Stop the Simonswood Incinerator.’
The crunch decision has been deferred from previous meetings, one where councillor called the existing site a ‘dumping ground,’ pointing to ‘piles of material,’ ‘dust,’ ‘environmental breaches’ and lorries thundering through, saying they fear worse if the plans get the go ahead.
One heavyweight voice against the proposals is that of Dr Kerry Dwan, who lives in nearby Bickerstaffe. The doctor, a methods support unit leader and statistical editor at the evidence, production and methods directorate of Cochrane Central Executive Team, told LancsLive in October that studies cited in support of the plans were flawed.
She said: "I think there is evidence to show increased cancers, congenital abnormalities, miscarriages and infant deaths. The company has just said, we’ve done this before, and it’s been accepted, so it’s fine, because nobody has been bothered to go against them before, or to critique it in much detail. One of the main points is that they base their evidence on municipal waste incinerators and not medical waste.
“It’s supposed to burn 24 hours a day as well - and the constant uncertainty is really affecting people’s mental health in the locality as well. You’ve got all the agricultural land that grows food that they distribute to local supermarkets and farmers’ markets and local people eat as well, and it’s in the prevailing wind as well.
“We moved to the countryside, to be in the fresh air, to have fresh air for our children, so they could grow up and not be affected by pollution. If this does get permission, there’s no way I’ll bring my children up near it. Lancashire is a testing ground and this pyrolysis technique hasn’t been used before, so they want to use us as guinea pigs."
Similarly, local resident Paula Carlyle told LancsLive this week: "Residents remain resolute in their objection to these proposals. The decisions Lancashire County Councillors are about to make could have an impact, not just on communities in Lancashire but on communities across the country, as the applicant will no doubt seek to use any decision in their favour to obtain planning permission elsewhere.
“We have produced documents which clearly outline the negative health and environmental effects of medical waste incinerators. The World Health Organisation agrees with us…even Scotland and Wales have placed a stop on any new incinerators using the little autonomy they have; it’s high time for England to catch up and take seriously its responsibility to protect our environment and play its part in the global race to save our planet."
She continued: "Any claim of economic value due to the creation of 12 jobs is severely outweighed by the potential loss of hundreds of farming jobs, should the surrounding areas prime graded agricultural land become polluted by this plant. Probably one of the reasons local farmers are also unhappy with these proposals and they will be supporting our demonstration outside County Hall in Preston at 9am on Wednesday 7th December.
"I would urge all local residents to attend and anyone else who wishes to protect our environment and their own. It may be our town today but it could be yours tomorrow, given Culzean's plans, and our campaign group Stop the Simonswood Incinerator is clear that these proposals should not be granted permission. Not in our town, not in any town!"
However, the man behind the plans, applicant Nick Kennedy, director of Culzean W2D (Simonswood) Limited, has said processes for surgical operations, life saving drugs and cancer treatments all created medical waste that ‘must… by law… be dealt with by high temperature treasure such as incineration, gasification or pyrolysis.'
And Mr Kennedy said back in September that ‘without a high temperature treatment facility for the safe disposal of infectious medical waste, the NHS could not operate’. Mr Kennedy indicated a lack of facilities to treat such medical waste west of the M6 and north of the M62, which meant medical waste currently being transported to Leeds, Oldham and Wrexham, adding that the Oldham incinerator was surrounded by around 1,000 homes, at least one college and several schools or nurseries.
Meanwhile, long haul transport of such material by road was harmful to the environment, he pointed out, increasing the risks of transporting hazardous material, and ‘medical waste should be treated as close as possible to where it is produced.’ The proposed facility was the ‘closest medical waste treatment facility to all health care providers between the Mersey and the Ribble,’ he added at a meeting.
His agent, Mr David Young,of Oaktree Environment Ltd, acting on behalf of the applicant, said the assessments were ‘robust,’ according to a council review by professional air quality experts. He pointed to ‘several benefits’ including an ‘increase in sustainability of management of the local waste stream’ a ‘facility for the safe destruction of waste,’12 jobs and removal of a ruined building, adding that a permit would be required from the Environment Agency and there would be ‘continuous and periodic emissions monitoring.’
But the World Health Organisation, recently contacted by Lancs Live, has also waded in. Although not commenting directly on the Bickerstaffe plans, they responded to a query about their safety by sending us documents.
One, called ‘Incineration of Healthcare Waste and the Stockholm Convention Guidelines,’ categorically states that medical waste incineration is ‘a major global source of dioxins.’ These are defined by the WHO as a ‘group of chemically-related compounds that are persistent environmental pollutants,’ that are ‘highly toxic and can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer.’
According to the WHO, they ‘travel long distances in the air, up to hundreds of kilometres, and are ‘very persistent,’ with an ‘environmental half life…on surface soil ‘of ‘9 to 15 years,’ and an ‘environmental half life…on subsurface soil’ of ‘25 to 100 years.’ Their health effects are, according to the WHO documents, ‘birth defects, ‘alteration in reproductive systems,’ ‘fewer male births,’ ‘suppression of the immune system,’ cancers like ‘chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, soft tissue sarcoma, non Hodgkin’s lymphoma, respiratory cancer, prostate cancer,’ ‘decreased fertility,’ ‘reduced size of genital organs,’ and ‘hormonal changes.’
The WHO flags up ‘health effects of incineration’ in historical studies, like one carried out between 1956 and 1993 on mothers living close to incinerators and crematoriums in Cumbria which flagged up ‘increased risk of lethal congenital anomaly, in particular spina bifida and heart defects around incinerators, and increased risk of stillbirths.’
Meanwhile, older studies showed dangers like a 'significant increase in laryngeal cancer in men living with closer proximity to the incinerator and other pollution sources,’ based on a study of residents living within 10km of an incinerator, refinery and waste disposal.
But those in favour of the incinerator have dismissed some of the concerns. David Young, of the agent acting for the applicant, told LancsLive earlier this year a Public Health England statement - published following a major study of modern municipal waste incinerators - had said 'modern, well run and regulated waste incinerators were not a significant risk to public health'.
Campaigners hit back saying these assurances are flawed. Dr Dwan says no systematic review has been done, an inconsistent modelling approach has been taken, out of date data has been used, and Public Health England studies excluding medical waste incinerators have been cited. And some of the campaigners are planning to stage a demonstration in Preston when Lancashire County Council’s development control committee meets to discuss the matter again this week.
A spokesperson for Lancashire County Council said parties permitted to speak at the meeting would be notified beforehand and that comments from Bickerstaffe Parish Council would be set out in their report. They added that Lancashire County Council had sought independent advice to validate the applicant's assessment of the impact of the emissions, and this was set out in the officer report.
Applicant Culzean W2E Limited and their agent, Oaktree Environment Ltd, were both contacted by Lancs Live today (Thursday, December 1) for response.
- The meeting of Lancashire County Council's development control committee will take place at 10.30am at County Hall, Fishergate, PR1 8XN, Preston on Wednesday, December 7 next week. For further details, click here.
- A demonstration by the campaign group, Stop the Simonswood Incinerator, takes place outside County Hall in Preston at 9am on the same day.
- To view the planning application, click here.
READ NEXT:
Harry Potter-inspired coffee shop folds as cocktail bar prepares to move in
Makers of Blackpool Illuminations to star in Channel 4 Christmas TV show
Heated marquee with huge ice rink, German food and beer coming to Southport
I went on Blackpool's 260ft tall fairground ride during a rainstorm and I'll never do it again
