Councillors vote to end support for waste incinerator

COUNCILLORS in Newcastle have voted in favour of pulling out of a controversial waste incinerator project.

- DANIEL HOLLAND

City politicians voted at a full council meeting on Wednesday night in support of ending Newcastle's involvement with the Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility (TVERF), which is due to be built at the Teesworks site in Grangetown, Redcar.

However, it appears unlikely that Newcastle City Council's Labour leadership will agree to the request to withdraw from the £2.1bn project, despite the Liberal Democrat-led motion passing by the tightest possible margin.

There have been concerns for years about the cost and pollution impact of the rubbish burner, which will take up to 450,000 tonnes of waste every year from seven North East councils on a contract that could run for up to 40 years.

And there were huge cheers from both the opposition benches in Newcastle Civic Centre and anti-incinerator campaigners in the public gallery as city councillors backed Liberal Democrat Gareth Kane's motion calling for the city's withdrawal from the scheme.