Liberal Democrats welcome Tory U-turn on Incineration

4.30.00pm GMT Tue 15th Dec 2009

The Tories have realised the Lib Dems were right all along, says Will Forster

For many years the Liberal Democrats have been arguing that there are better and safer modern green alternatives to mass burn incineration. The announcement by the Tories that they will abandon "energy from waste" (mass burn incineration) has finally recognised that the Lib Dem position has been correct all long. Apart from the environmental impact, mass burn incineration is known to discourage councils from recycling waste.

County Cllr Will Forster, Liberal Democrat spokesman on Waste explained: "This new proposal can only be a partial solution since, despite projections of a high level of re-cycling, the figures announced today for dealing with all the waste for the whole county do not add up. The Tory proposal is clearly incomplete and it does not address all the Council's waste disposal needs. Surrey currently sends waste out of the County for mass burn incineration but this may not be environmentally and financially sustainable."

Cllr Forster continued: "In addition to these concerns and the huge cost in money and time previously wasted by the Conservatives in pursuing outdated technologies, we have concerns about the way the site selection has been carried out."

He added: "This entirely new strategy does not seem to have involved a serious review of sites. Therefore we have no way of knowing if these proposals are sustainable locally or whether they will provide the best service to the people of Surrey."