§ 4. Mr. Colin Pickthall (West Lancashire)What monitoring is undertaken by his Department on the siting of proposed (a) animal incinerators and (b) household waste incinerators. [58607]
§ The Minister for the Environment (Mr. Michael Meacher)Details on the siting of waste incinerators which are subject to planning permission are kept on the planning registers of local planning authorities. My Department keeps details of planning permissions granted and refused for incineration development both with energy recovery and without energy recovery, which can be used for monitoring. These records do not differentiate between animal and household waste incinerators.
§ Mr. PickthallThe village of Burscough in my constituency has been under siege for some time now by developers who wish to site three animal incinerators there. Alongside that, neighbouring local authorities plan to increase the number of household waste incinerators. Does my right hon. Friend agree that we desperately need a strategic overview of the location of incinerators and, with that in mind, will he review the document issued by the Department in August 1997, which says that incinerators can be installed without planning permission where there is a building or land already designated for general industrial use? Would that not mean that, wherever there was an industrial site in Britain, incinerators could sprout up, without local people or local authorities being able to object to them?
§ Mr. MeacherI understand my hon. Friend's concerns. A planning application for the development of an incinerator—whether it is made in an industrial area or not—has to be determined in accordance with the development plan, unless material considerations dictate otherwise, and in the light of planning guidance from the Department.
My hon. Friend is correct to say that we issued guidance in respect of over-30-months scheme incineration on 8 August last year, but in February this year we also issued for consultation the final draft of planning policy guidance note 10, entitled "Waste Disposal and Management". That advises on the location of waste management facilities and suggests that, although some industrial sites may be appropriate for site-specific reasons, there are a range of other options.