Representation by Roisin Mary O’Shea
- Date submitted
- 13 October 2022
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I believe that the proposed incinerator to be built in Wisbech would have a huge negative impact for the town itself, as well as outlying villages, towns and cities including Kings Lynn and Peterborough. The town of Wisbech has so much potential with its Georgian architecture and history if only local planners and government focussed on this rather than lining their pockets from a development that would impact Wisbech from a visual point of view as well as the huge impact it will have on the environment and infrastructure. Such a blight on the town will not only take away from its historical architecture, but will also only succeed in keeping tourists away, reducing any income from tourism, therefore resulting in the continued decline of a town with so much potential. The large numbers of heavy vehicles in and out of the development will not only cause havoc with traffic flow in a town that already suffers gridlock at key points throughout the day, but the roads themselves will breakdown - Wisbech and it’s surrounding villages already have some of the poorest condition roads in Cambridgeshire and nationally due to a lack of money to improve them and the agricultural traffic that results in many roads cracking and dropping away or creating potholes that are only ever ‘patched up’. Needless to say the fall out of the emissions from the incinerator will also have a detrimental affect on the environment and those with existing respiratory conditions and well as the potential to increase the numbers of those that will develop respiratory conditions, particularly our children. I drive into Peterborough everyday and the quality of air is far from great near the Energy Recovery Facility on Fengate despite it being ‘regularly monitored’. The development of not just an incinerator, but Europe’s largest incinerator would potentially see emissions up to 25 miles away…affecting not only Wisbech and surrounding villages, but Kings Lynn, Norwich and Peterborough. While I understand it would bring jobs to the area, I feel that the arguments against having this development far out-weigh any positive impact it would have.