November 2005

Proposed plant will not cause health problems

Recent claims that the proposed RDF facility at Ince Resource Recovery Park will create health problems for local residents are completely false. 

Myles Kitcher of Peel Holdings explained: “We would not be able to get a planning consent or Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) Permit if there was any danger of causing a health risk to the local community.  Air quality standards are set down in law to ensure that industrial operations do not present unacceptable health impacts and the regulations that are in place to enforce these standards are very tight.  The proposed plant will easily comply with all current UK and European legislation.  Also, when the plant is operating, emissions will be monitored continuously to ensure that there are no disturbances or poor operation leads to higher emission levels.”

In order to comply with the planning and PPC Permit applications, emissions from the proposed plant have been studied in a three stage analysis.  The first stage of the study has used a computer model to predict the worst case scenario on ground level of various pollutants, such as oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, acid gases, dioxins and odours.

Weather conditions have been combined from the past three years with local topography.  This calculates an hourly amount of ground level pollution of each pollutant, and also the long-term average for the surrounding area.

Finally, these predicted peak concentrations are added to any existing background levels, and the results are compared with air quality standards for each of the individual pollutants.

“This detailed study will be available to the public, showing that air quality standards, designed to protect the environment and health, will not be exceeded, even at peak locations.  It will display that actual levels at any local residencies will be far below the predicted peaks,” said Myles Kitcher.

“The three level analysis adheres to Environment Agency (EA) requirements, who will review the findings in detail, and only consent the Permit application when it is completely satisfied.  We are confident that the EA will issue a PPC Permit based on an agreement of findings from this air quality report.”