City chief 'may back the burn' (From thisisoxfordshire)

City chief 'may back the burn'

8:55am Tuesday 11th July 2006

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Oxford City Council's new leader John Goddard has controversially not ruled out backing incineration to get rid of the city's waste in the future.

Mr Goodard, whose Liberal Democrat group took control of the Town Hall after the local elections in May, told the Oxford Mail he believed a new generation of waste burners was cleaner, adding "it was not sensible to rule something out" until in possession of all the facts.

Mr Goddard's comments come as the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership, a consortium of county and district councillors, has yet to decide what to do about waste disposal from 2010, the date authorities will get fined for continuing to dump too much rubbish in landfill.

A final decision on what methods of waste disposal will be used will be made by Oxfordshire County Council, but there is no indication when.

Mr Goddard said: "I think we need to be sure about the consequences of any decision the county should wish to make and until we know what emissions might be I am not prepared to know what the best answer is.

"Old fashioned incinerators were unpleasant (but now) lots of countries in Europe use clean facilities and I am told they are different.

"It's not sensible to rule out something until you know what the options are.

"The record of the OWP was strongly criticised by the Audit Commission and no one is arguing that was seriously wrong. We really have got to do better - and faster."

County Hall, which dumps the majority of waste at landfill, faces fines of up to £4.4m in 2009/10 for dumping unprocessed rubbish in landfill.

The fines would be imposed if the council fails to reduce the dumping of biodegradable materials like paper, cardboard, garden waste, kitchen waste, textiles and wood.

Last week the city council adopted a motion "to exclude incineration in the tenders for the future waste treatment" but several councillors abstained from the vote.

City council Green group leader Craig Simmons said: "I hope Oxford sends a very clear message to the waste partnership that we can't consider incineration as an option."

Banbury county councillor Kieron Mallon, chairman of the OWP, added: "I am not anti any method, but I am not actively promoting one.

"It's too early now to come up with a preferred option."

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