This weeks show welcomes Shirehampton and Avomouth environmental campaigners Karen van Hoey Smith and Ian Robinson. They are concerned that a toxic waste incineration plant planned for the Avonmouth docks area is simply too polluting to be where it is and it seems the countrys main environmental regulator The Environment Agency, as well as Bristol City Council, agree with them. Its an important development as it looks likely to enable The Day Group to expand their waste incineration around the country and almost certainly on the Avonmouth site too. The Day Group began building the incinerator even though it now seems they didnt have the correct permissions to do so. A certificate saying they could was issued in error by Bristol City Council. The public enquiry begins in Clifton this week so Karen and Ian give us a comprehensive introduction to the arguments being presented by local resident volunteers who will be facing a phalanx of highly paid barristers at the enquiry.
Developments such as the new plant in Avonmouth process dusty ash residue from incinerators, sorting and storing the material before processing some of it into aggregates for the construction industry. Avonmouth residents have opposed the operation on air quality and public health grounds, as have local Labour councillors Jo Sergeant and Don Alexander. âIf I were James Day [director of Day Group] I would ask myself if I would like to have an incinerator bottom ash processing plant in my back garden,â commented Sergeant. https://thebristolcable.org/2017/11/risks-increased-pollution-avonmouth-port-activity-looms/