Representation by Paul Edward Eden
- Date submitted
- 4 October 2022
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
So far as I am aware, there is no plan to offset the facility’s carbon emissions. Ensuring carbon-neutral operations for any new infrastructure is imperative. The idea that infrastructure with a 40-year operational lifespan should even be considered without an assurance of carbon neutrality is unthinkable. An Energy from Waste Combined Heat and Power Facility is a power station. That point seems not to have been made clear. Removing waste is a useful by-product of what it does, since it is a power station fuelled by waste rather than coal, gas or oil. How is building a power station on what today is the outskirts of a small town, but tomorrow may well be the middle of a developing settlement, in any way sensible or forward-looking? If the facility is built, Wisbech will live with it for at least 50 years. Right now, we can already see national and global attitudes towards waste, emissions and power generation changing. Building a power station that relies on burning anything to generate electricity now is akin to buying a new film camera just as the digital era began, it’s Betamax to VHS… a poor, short-sighted decision taken at the wrong time.