UK – No public enquiry into Westbury

The UK government has rejected calls for a public enquiry into plans to burn recycled liquid fuel at Lafarge’s Westbury plant. Environment minister Elliot Morley said “It would not be normal to have a public enquiry in these circumstances.”

He added that the vetting process has sufficient safeguards and that the application is subject to the Environmental Agency Substitute Fuels Protocol and will involve the local Primary Care Trust, a statutory consultee under the regulations. Residents of the area fear that the application for a six-month trial does not thoroughly address health concerns.

Westbury works manager John Collinson commented: “Clearly a further rejection of a call for a public enquiry is good news. It should hopefully mean we can speedily work towards achieving our goal of running a successful trial using RLF and demonstrating that we can secure here the environmental and commercial benefits enjoyed by the community and employees at cement works around the world where RLF is used.”

The Environment Agency is due to announce its decision regarding the application by the end of June 2004.