Representation by Elizabeth Truss MP
- Date submitted
- 11 November 2022
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
The Medworth Energy from Waste Combined Heat and Power Facility has been accepted for examination by the Planning Inspectorate. To formally register as an interested party, I am making the following comments: Although this proposal is located outside of my constituency, it will have adverse consequences for constituents in South West Norfolk and so I object to the proposal. The consultation failed to include several parishes along the East Cambridgeshire and West Norfolk border, including – but not limited to – Upwell Parish Council and Walsoken Parish Council. Failing to consult the wider population in West Norfolk neglects their serious concerns. Reports from the company released during the consultation also omitted vital information, including parts related to location monitoring. This is not the extensive and thorough consultation you would expect from a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. The site chosen is totally unsuitable when you analyse the surrounding infrastructure. The A47 requires major improvement, irrespective of the proposals. Traffic is always heavy around the A47/A1101 Elme Hall roundabout and its tributary network. To encourage heavier and more extensive traffic flows, with around 300 HGV movements expected per day, would not only add to congestion but totally immobilise the area as people try to get to work and take their children to school. Businesses already struggling to access customers will face further disruptions, whilst also jeopardising tourism to Norfolk by clogging principal access roads. Dragging hundreds of thousands of tonnes of non-recyclable municipal and commercial waste to Wisbech each year is worrying from an environmental and health perspective too. The Elme Hall roundabout is already close to being designated an Air Quality Management Area, and additional heavy, slow moving traffic can only worsen this. My opposition is shared by Norfolk County Council, the Borough Council of Kings Lynn and West Norfolk, neighbouring Members of Parliament, and reflects the views expressed by constituents. I ask the Planning Inspectorate, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, to reject this proposal. Liz Truss MP