Sir,

Incinerator must be refused

The ‘Environmental Impact Assessment’ for Britaniacrest’s proposed ‘recycling, recovery and renewable energy facility’ seems to suggest that the facility would be virtually invisible with little or no visual impact on the area’s rural landscape.

In reality, the proposed facility’s massive blockhouse-like building standing 48.75 metres high together with the proposed 95 metres tall chimney stack would be impossible to conceal.

There are also concerns that emissions from the facility’s incinerator will be harmful to health, with consequent implications for residents ‘North of Horsham’ and beyond. 

Public Health England’s study looking at the possible health impacts of emissions from existing waste incinerators has yet to be published. Consequently, one could be forgiven for suspecting that the scheme is being pushed forward in an attempt to secure approval before Public Health England’s findings are published.

Also questionable would be the placing of the proposed facility at a location to which waste can only be delivered by HGV via a road network that is already congested and where that congestion can only worsen, with consequent implications for air quality and therefore public health, as thousands of houses are built around Horsham.

This speculative application should be refused.

Yours faithfully,

Dr R F Smith
for CPRE Sussex (Horsham District)