CAMPAIGNERS, who are opposed to an incinerator being built at Ardley, have once again raised fears they could be sandwiched between two waste burners.
Waste Recycling Group is preparing to submit a planning application next month to build a 300,000- tonne incinerator at Lower Greatmoor Farm, Buckinghamshire – between Edgcott and Calvert and only about ten miles from Bicester.
The company is also battling to be designated as Buckinghamshire County Council’s preferred bidder for its waste disposal.
Last autumn the council chose Covanta Energy as its preferred bidder to build a 585,000-tonne incinerator in Bedfordshire.
But because of a “commercially sensitive matter” the contract has gone back out to tender and both firms will once again submit bids to dispose of the county’s waste.
The move has forced action group Stop Aylesbury Vale Incineration to reform and team up with their Oxfordshire counterparts, Ardley Against the Incinerator, to fight the plans.
Campaigners have said the Calvert incinerator will have a massive effect on Bicester and could cause gridlock with lorries carrying tonnes of waste to Calvert.
SAVI spokesman Helen Howard said: “Bicester is now set to be caught between two huge mass-burn incinerators – one at Ardley and the other at Lower Greatmoor Farm.
“The plans would create gridlock in Bicester with thousands of tonnes of waste being trucked in to feed the demands of the incinerators.”
She reckons the county would produce up to 120,000 tonnes of waste a year and the rest would be trucked in from neighbouring counties.
In the meantime, the details of a second application by Viridor to build a £100m incinerator at Ardley has been opened for public inspection. Local people have just weeks to send their comments to Oxfordshire County Council.
Jonathan O’Neill, chairman of Ardley Against the Incinerator, said: “What it means is there could be two incinerators, with Bicester sandwiched between them, increased traffic blocking Bicester and God know’s what else.
“It asks the question: why are there two sites so close to each other?”
Next month the Ardley group will fight the first application at a public inquiry. It starts on July 6.
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