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Government lifts ban on new incinerators

BBC Wisbech incinerator protestBBC
Local people have mounted a campaign against the Wisbech incinerator

A temporary ban on new waste-burning incinerators in England has been lifted.

An order which prevented the Environment Agency from issuing permits to new plants expired on 24 May.

The BBC has been told that no further order has been issued.

It paves the way for new incinerators, including one in Environment Secretary Steve Barclay's constituency, to get the final go-ahead.

Environment Minister Sir Mark Spencer imposed a temporary pause on permits in April so that officials could consider "the role of waste incineration in the management of residual waste in England".

The findings of that piece of work have not yet been published.

Two waste-burning plants are thought to have been on the cusp of getting final approval when the ban was imposed.

One is in Corby in Northamptonshire, the other is in Wisbech in the North East Cambridgeshire constituency of Environment Secretary Steve Barclay.

The decision to impose the temporary ban was made by Sir Mark after Mr Barclay, recused himself from the decision.

Residents who were campaigning against the plant in Wisbech, which would be one of the largest in Europe, had described the pause as a "reprieve”.

The Environmental Services Association, which is the trade body for the UK's waste industry, welcomed the lifting of the temporary pause.

Shlomo Dowen, from the anti-incineration campaign group, UK Without Incinerator Network, said that the pause had been "imposed due to serious concerns about over-provision of incineration capacity", which he said had "not gone away".

He said he could "see no reason why the pause on new incinerator permits should not be extended until a full review has been completed and subject to public consultation."

Labour has selected Javeria Hussain to stand in North East Cambridgeshire at 4 July's general election. David Chalmers is the Liberal Democrat candidate, Andrew Crawford will stand for the Green Party, Michael Roberts for the Social Democratic Party, and Christopher Thornhill for Reform UK. Mr Barclay has a majority of 29,993.