Row breaks out as plan for incinerator advances

CONTROVERSIAL North A waste incinerator project looks set to go ahead - despite a war of words after a previouslycritical Reform council claimed to have negotiated an alleged £250 million saving.

- DANIEL HOLLAND Local Democracy Reporter [e-mail]

An image of what the new facility could look like

Opponents of the Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility (TVERF) have been urging councils to scrap plans to build the huge rubbish burner near Grangetown, in Redcar.

‘The vast scheme will see up to 450,000 tonnes of rubbish sent to be burned each year from Newcastle, Durham, Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton. Reform UK's council leader in Durham, Andrew Husband, had recently warned that his party had “no appetite” for the incinerator and had joined calls for Newcastle's leadership to pull out of the deal, amid concerns about the financial and environmental cost of a potential £2 billion project.

But Reform County Durham claimed on Thursday evening to have secured a “stronger deal’; which it said “not only saves County Durham a minimum of £73 million, but almost £250 million across all councils involved” Labour leaders from all six of the other councils involved called Reform’s announcement “blatantly false”