Assurances have been given over the potential impact on health of the local population from a new £300m incinerator which will burn household waste on Teesside from across the North-East.

Twenty five acres of land at the Teesworks industrial site, near Redcar, has been identified for the Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility with a final preferred bidder for the project possibly being named next month.

Councillor Craig Hannaway said a recent Public Health England study found a small potential increase in the risk of congenital birth defects for children born within ten kilometres of such modern facilities.

He also said an All Party Parliamentary Group on Air Pollution had called for a halt to the expansion of new waste incinerator plants over the risk of ultra fine particulate matter making its way into the environment.

Cllr Hannaway, an independent who represents Saltburn, pointed out that some wards near Teesworks already had a 20-year lower than average healthy life expectancy than other areas in the borough.

But Councillor Steve Kay, Redcar and Cleveland Council’s cabinet member for health and welfare said the APPG report did not draw from a larger body of scientific evidence available and was “outweighed by it”.

He said: “It is this wider body of evidence which underpins the position of the UK regulatory authorities that modern well run, energy from waste facilities do not cause an unacceptable risk to human health.”

Cllr Kay cited a 2020 study by air quality consultants on behalf of the Greater London Authority which concluded that any potential health risk from direct emissions from effectively managed and regulated facilities were exceedingly low.

He said: “Furthermore the use of energy recovery in England is approved by Public Health England.

“Following the results of a major study on municipal waste incinerators by Imperial College London published in 2019, PHE stated that well run and regulated incinerators are not a significant risk to public health.

“While it is not possible to rule out adverse health effects completely, any potential effect for people living close by is likely to be very small.

“This view is based on detailed assessments of the effects of air pollutants on health and the fact that these incinerators make only a very small contribution to local concentrations of air pollutants.

“Energy from waste plants are among the most heavily regulated industrial installations and must meet strict environmental standards.”

He added: “The Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility will use mature, proven and robust technology to process waste and flue gases will be cleaned before being safely released from the plant.

“It will also be subject to stringent permit conditions relating to emissions, including particulate matter and will be closely managed by the Environment Agency to ensure that it operates well within the limits set by the regulator.

“Any impact on health from reduced air quality will be negligible.”
Cllr Kay said air quality in Redcar and Cleveland “consistently meets Government targets” and the new facility would not alter this situation.

‘Minimal at most’

 

Speaking at a full council meeting, Cllr Hannaway said: “Your position is that there is absolutely nothing for anyone to worry about – for example congenital anomalies, an increase in asthma, no problem for runners and cyclists?

“And if there is a pollution event will this council be able to pinpoint that to the incinerator without running into any veil of secrecy?”

Cllr Kay said: “The effect will be minimal at most.

“You mention people losing 20 years of active life – there are far bigger problems in relation to that, poor housing, low incomes, poor diet, high smoking rates, drinking, drug addiction, mental health problems, lack of exercise, obesity, these are the things reducing people’s longevity, not the very small amount of particulates from the proposed energy from waste facility.

“This facility isn’t in place yet, but I will certainly be pressing for completely open reports to this authority.”

The plant will burn up to 450,000 tonnes a year of domestic solid waste that can’t be recycled from one and-a-half million households across the North-East, creating electricity for the National Grid.

The award of a contract to run the facility – which is due to become operational from April 2026 – is expected in early November.

Seven councils are involved in the project and as a result a so-called Local Authority Special Purpose Vehicle (LASPV) is being set up – essentially a limited company which will be the contracting entity on the local authorities’ behalf and enter into an agreement with the successful bidder.

Redcar and Cleveland Council’s cabinet agreed in March to enter into the LASPV and other councils have also agreed similar arrangements.

There will also be a 50-year lease agreed with the South Tees Development Corporation, which has responsibility for Teesworks.

Redcar and Cleveland has teamed up with the four other councils in the Tees Valley – Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Stockton – and been joined by Durham County Council and Newcastle City Council to commission the design, build, financing and eventual operation of the incinerator, which is predicted to prompt economy of scale savings for the local authorities.

Redcar and Cleveland, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Stockton councils currently have a contract with Suez Recycling – formerly SITA – at Haverton Hill to treat household waste that cannot be recycled, but this is due to end in 2025.

Three companies – Viridor Waste Management Ltd, Suez Recycling and Recovery Ltd and Green Recovery Projects Ltd – are in the running for the contract, which could eventually be worth more than £2bn.

The operator chosen will be given a minimum 29 year contract to build and operate the plant with the potential of an 11 year extension.

When the contract expires it will revert to being jointly owned by the seven councils in the partnership.

A £5m loan is being provided by the Tees Valley Combined Authority for the procurement and related costs, which will be paid back over the operational period of the new facility.

In December Redcar and Cleveland leader Mary Lanigan said the project had “gone too far down the line” to be reconsidered after she was pressed by former Green Party general election candidate Rowan Mclaughlin over the environmental impact.

She is chair of the group Stop Incineration North East which previously labelled the energy recovery facility as a “monster incinerator” and has called on council leaders to cancel the planned build.

Ms Mclaughlin has told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that it would be “unethical” to build the incinerator in the area.

The LDRS previously revealed concern about air pollution levels in nearby Dormanstown over a 24-hour period in March being the highest in the country, although this was later explained to be caused in part by a particular set of atmospheric weather conditions.

In 2019 an air quality annual status report published by Redcar and Cleveland Council said air pollution was associated with a number of adverse health impacts and recognised as a contributing factor in the onset of heart disease and cancer. 

It said Redcar and Cleveland, with its extensive coastline, had the potential to be a source of high levels of natural particulates, but there had been consistently good air quality in areas where the public was regularly exposed to air pollution.

Cllr Hannaway asked how Redcar and Cleveland Council would meet its pledge to be a zero carbon borough by 2030 when he said the new incinerator would emit between 0.7 and 1.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide for each tonne of waste burnt.

He asked: “How much of the carbon dioxide produced by the new incinerator will be captured and stored?”

Councillor Louise Westbury, the cabinet member for climate change and the environment, said: “It is designed to treat what is left over after recycling, the residual waste.

“It has the potential to be the first purpose built facility with carbon capture and storage technology within the UK.

“Up to 50% of the carbon dioxide to be emitted from the energy from waste facility will be derived from non-fossil sources.

“The carbon capture element of this can capture 95% of the carbon emitted from the plant.

“We could actually be carbon negative from this plant by 2030.

“The alternative is to go to landfill when energy from waste is more efficient and it is still our best option.

“We’d like to recycle as much as we can, but there will always be residual waste and this is our best option.”

Cllr Hannaway also asked about job creation and was told by Councillor Chris Gallacher, the cabinet member for economic development, that the construction phase had yet to commence, but the project would create “several hundred jobs” with 40 permanent posts once it had been completed.

Cllr Gallacher said the granting of outline permission for the facility required a so-called section 106 agreement which would mean the contractor paying £250,000 to the council to be used towards the provision of employment and training at an employment hub in nearby Grangetown.

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