WITH time running out for people to comment on Veolia’s controversial waste incinerator in the Wey valley at Alton, the No Wey Incinerator action group is encouraging residents and business owners in the area to ‘object again’ before it’s too late.

Speaking after the action group released its latest information video this week, spokesman Ben Stanberry said the multinational waste management company’s reluctance to consider any alternative locations, despite the “clear unsuitability” of its site on the A31 near Alton, had left “thousands of local residents feeling angry and dismayed”.

He said: “As long ago as September 2019, Hampshire County Council made it clear to Veolia that both planning law and council policy required them to compare this site with reasonable alternative sites for an incinerator.

“But Veolia ignored that request until Hampshire issued them with a Regulation 25 notice compelling them to do so.”

When Veolia responded to the county’s notice in December, it claimed a number of options were considered and dismissed for various reasons.

However, the action group’s independent consultants advised that if a “full and proper assessment of genuinely viable alternatives” had been undertaken, then Alton wouldn’t even have been short-listed.

Mr Stanberry continued: “Just why is this site the only location in the whole of Hampshire that satisfies Veolia’s requirements?

“The three incinerators they currently operate in this county are all in industrial or semi-industrial locations.

“But the Wey valley between Farnham and Alton is an idyllic rural area defined by its farming and nature – and described by 18th-century writers as ‘the finest ten miles in England’.

“That description is as true today as it ever was. An incinerator will blight the area’s natural beauty for generations to come.”

Campaigners have also voiced concerns that the “cramped” dimensions of the site could present a problem in the event of a fire breaking out at the incinerator, as they fear there is not sufficient room for containment ponds to catch fire water run-off.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service have said that rather than risk polluting the chalk aquifer and the River Wey, they might have to let any fire burn itself out.

Mr Stanberry added: “The site is not, moreover, located near the sources of the waste it will burn, as required under Hampshire’s Mineral and Waste Policy.

“It won’t be handling local waste and although Veolia have failed to specify where the waste will come from, it is clear from their plans that it will mostly be trucked in from other counties.”

Making the most of an incinerator’s heat is critical to maximising its benefits – hence its official determination as an ‘energy recovery facility’.

But Veolia has conceded that, given the Alton site’s rural location, there are no opportunities for heat offtake.

The action group has also debunked Veolia’s claim that the A31 incinerator would create jobs – revealing it would employ fewer staff than the existing recycling centre, which would shut.

Mr Stanberry said: “Our action group’s independent consultants have carefully analysed Veolia’s planning application and concluded their only reason for selecting the Alton site for an incinerator is because they already own it and want to exploit it for as much profit as possible.

“It is our view – and that of many thousands of residents, business owners and statutory consultees who have already objected – that Veolia’s commercial objectives are not sufficient justification for blighting the lives of local people and destroying the fragile beauty of one of the most idyllic rural areas in the south of England.”

View Veolia’s application and comment online at https://planning.hants.gov.uk by searching for reference number 33619/007, before Monday, February 15.