The Aire Valley is my home. And the home of my one year old son.
But my valley could be sitting under a toxic cloud of pollution should plans to build an industrial waste incinerator be given the go-ahead.
The same valley, and surrounding moors which are a gateway to the Yorkshire Dales National Park; home to Haworth, the home of the Brontës; the UNESCO world heritage site of Saltaire Village; world famous Ilkley Moor and the National Trust’s Grade-1 listed East Riddlesden Hall.
Just Because You Can’t See It…
I’ve known for a long time that air pollution is an issue. I have what my friend calls ‘London-induced asthma’ from a few years in the Big Smoke. And then we moved back to Yorkshire for the cleaner air, or so we thought…
This incinerator was already in the planning when we bought our house but we didn’t know. And what I’ve heard since researching incineration is scary.
Despite assurances to the contrary, not all toxins can be filtered out. And monitoring of pollution levels is undertaken by the operator. Hmmm.
When external monitoring is carried out, the operator is told in advance. Double hmmm.
Incinerators are also allowed to breach their operating levels for up to four hours at a time. During these four hours, serious levels of toxins can be released into the local environment.
Air Pollution. Big Problem
Air pollution has been identified by Friends of the Earth as one of the biggest problems facing the UK with over 44,000 early deaths each year as a result of dirty air.
“Air pollution is linked to lung cancer, heart disease, asthma and diabetes. Many places, up and down the country, regularly exceed legal limits for air pollution.” – Friends of the Earth, Campaign for Clean Air (1)
It’s Our Kids That Will Get Poorly
Infant mortality rates, birth defects and childhood cancers have all spiked significantly in areas of the UK that have incinerators. The very young, those with underlying health conditions, and the older members of our community will be the ones to suffer most from the toxic air created by the incinerator.
I don’t want to take the risk with my child. Or yours.
But The Waste Has To Go Somewhere…
We do need to tackle waste, and we do need to create more energy. So isn’t incineration a good idea? Kill two birds with one stone? The Europe-wide campaign ‘ Zero Waste’ feel not.
“Despite being promoted as an alternative to fossil fuels, the use of waste as fuel is a false solution to climate change and it is amongst the most polluting, expensive, and inefficient forms of energy production available today.” – Zero Waste (2)
Their proposal is to reduce the amount of waste we produce to zero, rather than trying to burn it, and polluting the air in the process.
Whether that is feasible in the immediate it’s no surprise that my local community are campaigning fiercely against the incinerator, because the siting of it contravenes World Health Organisation guidelines.
WHO Says Don’t Put it Here
WHO’s recommendations for best practice in siting incinerators specifically states that valley basins are unsuitable. The proposed site in the Aire Valley is exactly that. Plus it is next to a well-used sports facility, a children’s centre and nursery school and an old people’s home. All that is against the second WHO guideline…
• Minimizing ambient air concentrations and deposition of pollutants to soils, foods, and other surfaces, e.g.,
Valleys, areas near ridges, wooded areas should be avoided as these tend to channel winds and/or plumes tend to impinge on elevated surfaces or downwash under some conditions.
• Minimizing the number of people potentially exposed, e.g.,
Areas near the incinerator should not be populated, e.g., containing housing, athletic fields, markets or other areas where people congregate.
– World Health Organisation (3)
You know, I’d really rather this wasn’t in anyone’s backyard. But the unique geological formation of the Aire Valley makes it uniquely unsuitable as the location of a waste incineration plant.
An innovative visualisation programme has shown that the plume from the incinerator will not only impact on the towns in the most immediate vicinity but also reach over to places of great historic and touristic importance such as Saltaire, Skipton, Ilkley Moor, Bolton Abbey and East Riddlesden Hall.
But it is for the communities that live, work and breathe the air of the Aire Valley that I worry. The communities of Keighley, Bingley, East Morton and Riddlesden.
The incinerator will burn industrial waste, brought in from outside the area via HGV, despite being over 10 miles away from the nearest motorway. So the waste will be trucked through the UNESCO world heritage site of Saltaire, and through other densely populated towns and villages, and along the bottom of my garden…
All this considered I am standing with my community and asking that permission is not granted for this incinerator to be built. If you’d like to support us you can…
Here's a brief guide to what you can do (we need everyone's help):
- Come to the Yoga for Clean Aire Fundraiser on Sunday 14 May 1–3pm at Crossflatts Primary School. More Information
- Like and follow the Aire Valley Against Incineration Facebook group, invite all your local friends. Use the hashtag #airevalleyincinerator and where you live e.g. #Keighley #Harden #Bingley
- Donate whatever you can, we may need a lot of legal help
https://www.justgiving.com/cr…/airevalleyagainstincineration
and support the fundraising events, more information here
- Sign the petition and spread the word
https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-building-of-an-incinerato…
- Follow us on Twitter and spread the word further
@aireincinerator #airevalleyincinerator
- Tell everyone in your local area; friends, neighbours, work colleagues, shops and businesses, pubs, restaurants
- Contact your local school and voice your concern. Ask them to contact the local MP and councillors
- Contact your local doctor's surgery. Ask them to contact the local MP
- Update your Facebook profile picture to our logo to help raise awareness of the group or the 'clean aire/skulls' image to promote the campaign.
- If you can help further and be part of the team then please email: [email protected] with e.g. LEAFLET/PETITION in the subject if you can help with. The team can then start to collate names into various teams. It's easier as it all gets a bit lost on here as there's so many passionate comments.
- If you feel that there's some vital information of a sensitive nature, or a contact you want to put the campaign in touch with then please email: [email protected]
Sources of information quoted above:
1) https://www.foe.co.uk/page/air-pollution-campaign-clean-air
2) https://www.zerowasteeurope.eu/climate/
3) http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/medicalwaste/en/smincinerators3.pdf
Images © Lucy Bannister 2017
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