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Oxfordshire County Council votes for waste debate
On the afternoon of Tuesday 19 June 2007 at Oxfordshire County
Council's meeting in County Hall, Oxford, councillors from all parties
(Conservative, Labour, Green and Lib Dem) voted for a debate on
Oxfordshire's new waste treatment (34 votes for, 0 votes against). The
county's new waste treatment contracts are expected to be broadly
similar to those of Cambridgeshire County Council, which signed a
£750 m 28 year PFI contract earlier this year. The motion
proposing the debate came from Councillor Val Smith.
The debate is expected in November 2007.
The motion from Councillor Smith (agenda item 21) reads: "This Council:
(a) notes the need for the public to be informed about the progress of
the procurement process for waste treatment facilities to meet European
Landfill Directive requirements; (b) asks the Cabinet to present a full
report on this process to Council at the time of the Invitation to
Submit Detailed Solutions (ISDS) and thereby to give elected members an
opportunity to participate in the debate about how best to dispose of
Oxfordshire’s municipal waste.”. The timetable indicated should mean a
debate in November 2007.
Cambridgeshire County Council signed a signed a 28 year PFI waste
treatment contract valued at £750 million in June. The contract
includes the treatment of food waste by invessel composting, and
residual waste (that not recycled) by a form of Mechanical Biological
Treatment which does not require burning it. Oxfordshire has a similar
quantity of municipal waste to Cambridgeshire.
The Council meeting was addressed twice by members of the public
supporting the motion. A resident of
Bishop's Cleeve in Gloucestershire who lives near a hazardous waste
landfill, described how toxic ash from incineration was dumped in it.
The other address was by a Oxford resident and Oxford Friends of the
Earth member.
Andrew Wood, Waste & Recycling campaigner for Oxford Friends of the
Earth said:
“This debate is well overdue. That no political group on the council
decided to oppose the motion shows the breadth of concern, and I
believe, opposition to burning Oxfordshire's waste in an incinerator.
The Council should be opting for Mechanical Biological Treatment of
waste, which will allow it to meet its landfill targets without burning
it.”
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