MORE TROUBLE FOR CRYMLYN BURROWS INCINERATOR: SHROPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCILLORS - TAKE NOTE!
Martin Shipton, South Wales Echo 1st May, 2008
A SOUTH Wales council is facing a £5m lawsuit over a waste processing and incinerator plant, it has emerged.
Bridgend council is understood to be locked in a secret battle with neighbouring Neath Port Talbot over problems relating to the Crymlyn Burrows Materials Recovery and Energy Centre (MREC).
The row, which is believed to involve Neath Port Talbot suing Bridgend to the tune of £5m, may even see Bridgend being banned from sending waste to the plant.
Domestic rubbish from both council areas are disposed of at the facility, which processes material for recycling and incinerates other waste.
It is also understood that during the course of legal arguments between the two councils, Neath Port Talbot has threatened to ban Bridgend from sending waste to the plant.
A political source told the Echo: “Leading politicians were told about this last week but they are all keeping tight lipped. I find it incredible that it has been allowed to get to this stage. Neath Port Talbot is apparently demanding that Bridgend pay up its fair share of the costs involved with various aspects of the MREC plant which have accrued since the collapse of the plant’s original operating company HLC.
“I understand that Bridgend has failed to pay an invoice for millions sent to them by Neath Port Talbot.”
The Crymlyn Burrows waste-processing plant, near the border of Neath Port Talbot and Swansea, has been hugely controversial since before it was opened in 2002.
Residents opposed it on health grounds, claiming there was no truly safe limit for the dioxins emitted by the incinerator. But councils, who point out that the incinerator has to comply with emission standards, saw it as a means of reducing the proportion of waste sent to landfill.
From the outset the plant processed about 150,000 tonnes of domestic refuse a year from Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend.
Much has been recycled, but an estimated 50,000 tonnes a year is burnt off in the incinerator.
The two councils issued a joint statement saying: “Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot councils are in discussions concerning a contractual matter related to waste disposal arrangements and both are hopeful that an early resolution will be possible. At this stage, neither council is prepared to make any further comment.”
martin.shipton@mediawales.co.uk
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