The Hog Roast planned for 20th September 2008 has been cancelled.
Letter sent to all Torfaen Borough Councillors
17th July 2008
Dear Councillors,
Reference the planning application by Shanks to build an MBT plant on the old Rechem site at New Inn
One of the many points made by Mrs Reardon at the presentation to TCBC councillors on 2nd July speaking on behalf of the New Area Action Group was with regards to residents concerns to potential expansion if the site is developed.
Add-on plants are already required or being built at the UK Shanks operational MBT plants because there is little market for the end product.
Since the planning process for this plant was started diesel fuel costs have almost doubled. If transporting end products from the plant becomes increasingly expensive and landfill is not an option because of the increased costs incurred and prohibitive legislation, it makes incineration on site an extremely convenient option for Shanks. See our attached schematic of the process including incineration.
Does this mean that eventually an incinerator may once again be located in New Inn as it looks as though our concerns maybe justified after all. NAAG
Below is a press release dated
4th July 2008 from Shanks:
Shanks branches into energy from waste
04-07-2008
MBT specialist Shanks looks set to set to break into the UK's energy from waste market under a new partnership with US incinerator firm, Wheelabrator Technologies.
The company has signed a cooperation agreement with the wholly owned subsidiary of Waste Management Inc - the largest environmental services company in North America - to offer mass burn energy from waste facilities to councils across the UK .
The deal will broaden the number of technologies Shanks can offer to councils, in addition to its Ecodeco mechanical biological treatment technology, and comes as Shanks says councils are becoming increasingly prescriptive about what technology they require.
All UK plants would be designed, built and operated both by Shanks and Wheelabrator Technologies for the duration of any contract, the firm explained.
Ian F Goodfellow, Shanks UK managing director, said: "We are delighted to be working in partnership with Wheelabrator Technologies Inc. We believe the widening of our technology offering in the PFI market not only satisfies the needs of a number of local authorities but also compliments our Ecodeco MBT solution.
Facilities
Wheelabrator Technologies currently owns and/or operates 16 energy-from-waste facilities and five independent power production facilities.
These facilities are located in 10 states ranging from New Hampshire to southern Florida and on the West Coast, and have an electric generating capacity of 836 megawatts, enough energy to power more than 900,000 homes.
Related links
The energy-from-energy facilities have a solid waste disposal capacity of 21,340 tons per day - as much waste as is disposed of daily by more than nine million people.
Mark A Weidman, president of Wheelabrator Technologies Inc, said: "We are very pleased to be teaming up with Shanks, a recognised leader in the European waste sector. The combination of Shanks' established position in the industry and Wheelabrator's 35 years proven EfW experience offer a unique and competitive solution for the UK market."
Letter sent to all Torfaen Borough Councillors:
Shanks Mechanical Biological Treatment Plant at the Old Rechem Site New Inn
Dear Councillors: Congratulations on your individual campaigns and the winning of your seats on full council.
The New Action Group represents local residents who signed and submitted letters of objection to the Planning Authority last July, opposing the proposed construction of this facility. The Shanks planning application was approved at a full council meeting on the February 5th in spite of a considerable opposition. This approval, however, is dependant on a 106 agreement which indicates that the plant can only be built if TCBC decides to use MBT as its waste strategy.
Following are a number of points for your information:
- TCBC has not yet decided upon a specific waste strategy and we believe the application was premature and an attempt to influence this strategy.
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A key policy objective in the WAG strategy on waste is “Recycling” combined with composting. WAG also notes it will neither advocate MBT nor financially support it.
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The TCBC Cabinet response on January 22nd to the Regional Waste Plan 1st Review indicated that MBT was NOT its preferred option. Its preferred strategy is kerb side recycling with Energy from Waste (EFW). This point was not brought to the attention of councillors at the February 5th planning meeting. We have raised this as a public question at full council meeting in March and since then we have had a meeting with the Chief Planning Officer.
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The Head of TCBC Technical Services and Performance advised that a maximum capacity of 64% for recycling is achievable with current systems. The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) states it requires a recycling target of 70% by 2025 (17 years from now). Why is the council considering commitment to MBT which is inefficient and expensive, when any shortfall in targets won’t become mandatory until 2025?
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Technical Services and Performance state that MBT is an interim technology. We would strongly argue that MBT is anything but an interim solution as any contract that commits the council for 25 years is definitely long term! The TCBC current waste contract is due for renewal by 2012 and with EFW a potential viable option by 2015 we fail to see the logic in pursuing MBT as short term as it is expensive, inefficient and not a final solution. 50%-70% of input will still go to landfill. Caerphilly Council rejected MBT as an option last year as it is too costly and does not fulfil Caerphilly’s green targets.
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The planning application proposed the plant would process waste from three local participating authorities to include Torfaen. However the approval has been granted for up to eight authorities making a mammoth change from a local facility to a regional one for the whole of S.E. Wales. The original application was not viable because the proposed input volumes, from these
Accident at roundabout on A4042/This is the letter that NAG forwarded to all Torfaen Borough Councillors and the people listed on the letter, following the traffic accident and the resulting traffic gridlock around New Inn and Griffithstown
by NAG - 11:36 on 19 April 2008
To:
Rt Hon Paul Murphy MP, Secretary of State for Wales
Rt Hon Rhodri Morgan AM, First Minister
Ieuan Wyn Jones AM, Transport Minister
Lynne Neagle AM for Torfaen
All Torfaen Borough Councillors
A serious accident took place at approximately 3.00 pm on 15th April 2008 on the Rechem roundabout at New Inn Pontypool between a juggernaut lorry and a car. The northerly access on the A 4042 towards Pontypool was completely blocked. This caused traffic chaos in Griffithstown and New Inn including Pontyfelin Lanefor approximately three hours. At 5.20 pm a police spokesperson confirmed that all local roads were gridlocked. This emphasises the fact that the local road network is not able to cope with the volume of traffic when the major arterial road (A4042) is blocked. On 5th February this year Torfaen Borough Council gave planning approval for Shanks Management to build a recycling plant on the old Rechem site in Pontyfelin Lane, New Inn. The building of the plant is subject to TBC adopting MBT as its waste strategy (a 106 agreement), however, if TBC accept MBT it would mean up to1000 HGV’s weekly will be emerging onto this roundabout. The speed of some vehicles on the roundabout is sometimes in excess of 30 miles an hour and to get onto the roundabout can be a very dangerous exercise. To add up to 1000 HGV’s weekly into an already problematic and congested area will lead to further accidents/incidents causing situations similar to the one experienced on 15th April thereby inconveniencing local people and everyone using the A4042 between Cwmbran and Blaenavon. We cannot understand why all the transport agencies involved in the Shanks planning application concluded that the extra vehicles to and from the plant would have no effect on traffic flow when it is evident that we are already experiencing problems due to accidents on the roundabout and the A4042, this is in addition to the long queues during peak hours on all the roads leading to the roundabout including the A4042 north and south. A presentation given during the meeting on 5th February opposing the planning application made it quite clear to everyone present our concerns regarding traffic movement. We would be interested to have the transport agencies comments in the light of the incident on 15th April 2008 and urge you to initiate an investigation.
New Inn Action Group
Reply to above letter: 28th May 2008
Thank you for your email of 20 April addressed to the Deputy First Minister regarding the traffic impact of the re-development at the Rechem site, Pontypool and the road traffic incident that occurred in 15 April. May I firstly apologise for the delay in replying.
The road traffic incident does not alter the Assembly Government's original decision not to object. The incident was unrelated to trunk road capacity issues where, the Assembly Government understands, a car on the roundabout was clipped by an articulated lorry causing the car to overturn and block the northbound exit of the Rechem roundabout. There were apparently no serious injuries sustained and no formal accident report for this incident was required.
The Assembly Government's involvement as a consultee to the planning application in 2007 considered that when the Rechem site was operational it had a daily traffic generation of 102 vehicle movements per day. The proposed new facility operating at full capacity is forecast to have a daily traffic generation of 186 vehicles per day. The worst case peak hour (8.00am - 9.00am) traffic generation, with the proposed facility operating at full capacity, is 10 vehicles inbound and 6 vehicles outbound. Given that the trunk road network in this area is dual carriageway the Assembly Government considered that while there is an increase in traffic generation it is small and well within the daily variability of traffic at this location.
The impact of the proposal on local roads in the area is of course a matter for the local authority.
Site Last Updated - 03/09/2008 10:42:46
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