A protest held by local people and MP's at Eye Airfield who are against proposals for a waste site to be built on the land.; MP for Central Suffolk Daniel Poulter addressing the crowd.
Eye: Protest at potential airfield waste site
By Elliot Furniss
Mid Suffolk reporter
Monday, February 28, 2011
9:20 AM
HUNDREDS of furious residents have attended a protest at a Suffolk airfield site earmarked as a possible location for a new waste processing facility.
About 250 people living in and around Eye gathered at the nearby Eye Airfield at noon yesterday to try to convince Suffolk County Council not to include the site in its Core Waste Strategy which is set to be adopted next month.
Campaign group Eye Say No To Waste organised the protest which was attended by MPs Dr Daniel Poulter and David Ruffley.
Campaigner David Burn said the demonstration was one last opportunity to show the council, which has been consulting on the proposal for months, how strong the local feeling was.
He said: “I think there has been this impression that this part of Suffolk, so far as local politicians are concerned, is a bit of a ‘soft touch’ for pushing things through because nobody has consolidated into a campaign movement against anything.
“This meeting has sent out a little message today that, given a very short amount of time, we can organise the community.
“There are people who are prepared to make a comment on what’s going on around here and that does show that there is a great deal more community feeling about what the councils are doing than they believe there to be.”
Mr Burn has also launched an e-petition on the Suffolk County Council website against the proposal and more than 250 people have already added their names to it.
Dr Poulter added: “For David Ruffley and I, today was about putting our line in the sand and saying that if this leads in the future to a potential planning application we will be 100% fighting against that.”
Speaking ahead of the event, Guy McGregor, Suffolk County Council’s portfolio holder for roads, transport and planning, said reducing the amount of Suffolk’s waste going to landfill was a “key priority”.
He said: “We have been considering a number of potential areas for residual waste treatment facilities – one of which is at Eye Airfield.
“There are no current proposals for a waste management facility in this area.
“Should any such proposal come forward, it would be widely publicised and the local community would have an opportunity to influence any decisions.
“Identifying Eye Airfield as an ‘area of search’ does not guarantee planning permission would be granted, should a proposal be made.”
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4 comments
In response to Sue Douglas, I think the people of Eye and surrrounding areas take their waste they propuce very serriously and are currently trying to stop the local waste and recycling centre from being closed. Did you not realise that the waste being spoken about is not household (which by the way will be taken care of at Gt. Blakenham), it is COMMERCIALand INDUSTRIAL WASTE (of which a miniscule amount is created locally) that is imported from all over the county and beyond. And finally 'yes' I would support any ways of educating people on reducing their waste, but far more important is educating commerce and industry on reducing theirs. If that had been done long ago our landfill sites might have lasted a lot longer.
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Larraine
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
I totally agree with you but building an incinerator is hardly going to encourage that, nor is the closure of several re-cycling centres in the county. Focussing on addressing the production of waste should be the centre-piece of the Suffolk Waste Management Strategy. Sadly the message been sent out is far, far different to this
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Ben Hall
Monday, February 28, 2011
I think they would. I am totally against this proposal but agree that we should be attacking the source of the problem which is the production of the waste in the first place. This should be the centrepiece of the Suffolk Waste strategy. Sadly it isn't and instead we have this flawed strategy of proposed incineration. If we can't dump it in the ground we shall burn it instead, and while we are at it we will close a raft of your local re-cycling centres. What sort of message is that sending to the waste producers?
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Ben Hall
Monday, February 28, 2011
Perhaps, more importantly, we should all take responsibility for the waste we produce. First and foremost...we are the ones who create it and then dump it on someone else's doorstep...without much thought for the outcome. Did the people of Eye think about where their waste gets dumped at present or is it out of sight out of mind? It has to be dealt with by 'somebody' it has to go somewhere. Land fill is now creating a potential health hazard for our children and their children. Perhaps a demonstration educating all of us on our responsibilities regarding waste and how to reduce it might be a start. Will these same people turn up as eagerly to support it?
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sue douglas
Monday, February 28, 2011