What is happening with the Sowerby Bridge incinerator plans: Councillors call on Government to pause all incinerator applications - including controversial one in Calderdale town

Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com 
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Visit Shots! now
Calderdale councillors are calling on new Government ministers to pause and review incinerator applications – a move which might halt a highly controversial one proposed in Sowerby Bridge.

Residents have suffered “distress” for almost a decade due to a company’s proposal to run a small waste incineration plant (SWIP) in Sowerby Bridge, with many in the town and the Ryburn valley opposing the proposals and raising concerns for their health, councillors heard.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Councillors from across Calderdale’s political parties united behind measures which also calls on the new Government to assess whether there is a need for any more incinerators or whether there are actually already enough in the UK to meet demand for their processes.

Conservative group leader Coun Steven Leigh (Ryburn), said councillors believed the incinerator would be a danger to health – a conclusion members heard planning inspector John Woolcock effectively reached last year when refusing a crucial environmental permit for operating the incinerator.

Coun Steven LeighCoun Steven Leigh
Coun Steven Leigh

Calder Valley Skip Hire (CVSH) wants to run the plant and a complicated history stretching back nearly 10 years has seen Calderdale Council refuse planning permission for the incinerator, that decision being overturned on appeal to the planning inspectorate, and objectors winning the right to a judicial review of a subsequent decision by the council’s cabinet to grant an environmental permit – after which the permit was quashed.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Following this, the status of the permit application was deemed to be “undetermined”, hence the company’s appeal, which Mr Woolcock dismissed, and now the new application.

The company has argued the SWIP would not pose a danger to human health.

Councillors heard legislation as it stands means there is currently no limit to the number of applications for the permit the company can make.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Coun Leigh said: “It’s a very, very serious issue about the incinerator and danger posed to human health.

“Hopefully there will be a major breakthrough for all the people who have been saying things about the incinerator – everyone is against it, it stinks.”

Coun Simon Ashton (Lab, Sowerby Bridge) said it had been a long and distressing process for residents.

“Residents have been living in knowledge an incinerator could be operating in their ward for nine years and counting,” he said.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.

News you can trust since 1853
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice