I'M still on cloud nine after the unanimous decision by Gloucestershire County Council's (GCC) planning committee to refuse planning permission for the incinerator.
The councillors proved democracy can work. They listened to the views of the nearly 5,000 objectors, 19 parish and town councils, two district councils and 10 organisations opposed to the scheme; and they listened to the cogent and compelling arguments that we all made on the day.
They made up their own minds, rather than following party lines, and they made the right decision. Congratulations to them all.
The arguments against this proposal were overwhelming. Firstly, the site was so inappropriate for such a large industrial building that even the GCC planning officers had to admit it would do harm to the landscape. They then claimed the benefits of this scheme would outweigh this harm, but their arguments just didn't stack up.
Firstly, the incinerator would have been far too big for Gloucestershire's waste. The project was based on predictions made in 2008 that assumed waste levels would go up, but they are 25 per cent less now than predicted just four years ago.
Secondly, an incinerator is not needed because more than enough facilities are being built on Gloucestershire's borders to deal with our waste. And then, this was the wrong technology. We would have been stuck with old, outdated, inflexible, expensive, inefficient technology for 25 years, that would have burnt valuable resources, when better alternatives exist. So where now? There is an opportunity after the May elections for the new county council, whatever their political persuasion, to start afresh, and look again at alternatives that pre-sort our black-bag waste and that will be flexible enough to meet future needs.
We urge them to work closely with residents, district, parish and town councils and other organisations to find the best solution for Gloucestershire. But firstly, we have the contractor, Urbaser Balfour Beatty, wanting to appeal the decision. We may have won the battle, but not yet won the war.
Having got this far, we will not give up, and we are convinced we will be the victors in the end.
