MP pledges to re-launch ‘timed out’ incinerator bill
Dr Andrew Murrison wants Wiltshire Council to halt the building of an incinerator in Westbury
A Wiltshire MP has pledged to reintroduce a proposed law to stop the building of new waste incinerators, after its passage through the House of Commons ‘timed out’ when Parliament was prorogued at the end of April.
South West Wiltshire MP Andrew Murrison says he intends to bring his cross-party bill back before the House of Commons now that a new session of Parliament has begun.
But the MP will first have to enter a private members’ ballot – a lottery used to decide which MPs can bring forward their own bills.
Dr Murrison is opposed to the waste incinerator in Westbury, previously calling incinerators “dirty, environmentally damaging, potentially dangerous and wholly unnecessary.”
Incinerators burn household waste at extremely high temperatures. The heat is used to create steam, which drives a turbine to produce electricity.
Incinerators were once hailed as a ‘clean’ way of generating power – but a 2023 study found they generate more greenhouse gases than coal power stations.
Dr Murrison will also be writing to Wiltshire Council leader Ian Thorn, urging the council to change direction on waste incineration.
Northacre Renewable Energy’s waste‑to‑energy plant was given the go-ahead by the Planning Inspectorate at appeal, after Wiltshire Council turned it down.
The £200 million facility is currently being built, with construction due to be completed in 2028.
The Liberal Democrat administration has previously said that breaking contractual obligations, which run until 2038 and were signed before they took control of the council, would cost local taxpayers around £20 million.
“Incineration is fast becoming a legacy technology with substantial overcapacity already across the country,” said Dr Murrison.
“I strongly urge them to back off and the council to de-risk waste disposal by doing all it can to frustrate this unwanted, unneeded Westbury incinerator.
“At the moment, I am sorry to say, the council’s leadership is complicit in Hills Waste/NREL’s Northacre burner scheme, which is disappointing given its rhetoric in opposition.”