The County Council's decision on the incinerator
At their cabinet meeting on 14th September 2009, Coventa Energy was chosen as the preferred bidder to treat the county's residual waste for the next 25 years. The American-owned company proposes to build and Energy from Waste (EfW) station at Stewartby, Bedfordshire. Coventa operates 40 EfW plants in the United States.
Sue Polhill, AVDC councillor for North Marston, was at this meeting and reports that "Coventa was selected was selected ahead of the Waste Recyling Group (WRG), having achieved a higher score on the set of criteria set out by the County and described on their website.
"This means that the proposed Calvert site has been deselected for the EfW, but WRG will continue to operate the Calvert landfill site. The transfer stations will be at Amersham, Wycombe and Griffin Lane, Aylesbury.
"Buckinghamshire households produce 260,000 tonnes of waste a year. We are taxed £50 for every tonne of waste, escalating year-on-year to £72 a tonne in four years time. This is a massive problem for the Councils, which needs to solved."
John Bercow, MP for North Marston, spoke publicly against the Calvert proposal and said of the decision "I am relieved and heartened that the County Council has accepted the argument that to site a mass burn incineration facility in Aylesbury Vale would be entirely wrong.
"My only sadness about Bucks County Council's decision is that such a facility should proceed anywhere when there are better alternatives. I pay tribute to the work of the Stop Aylesbury Vale Incineration campaign which has worked tirelessly to prevent the imposition of this unwanted burden and hazard."