Incinerator project may face challenge in court

Council officials in Perth are “in denial” over the proposed incinerator development at Shore Road and are determined to “tough it out” against the growing wave of opposition among the city’s residents.

This became clear at a public meeting where Ian Innes, Head of Legal Services for Perth and Kinross Council (PKC), faced angry townsfolk opposed to the application by waste management giants Grundon to build a massive incinerator plant on the banks of the Tay.

Mr Innes refused point blank to discuss the possibility of a legal challenge to the council’s decision to grant Outline Consent to the project – despite legal opinion from one of Scotland’s most eminent QC’s branding the decision of the planning officials as “unlawful”.

Richard Salvin, speaking on behalf of the Bridgend, Gannochy & Kinnoull Community Council, said: “There is now a clear consensus among residents that the decision to grant Outline Consent by officers of the council, without any reference to elected members of PKC, was unlawful. The result of their mistakes will destroy Perth as we know it.

“The only sensible option is for councillors to take control of this highly controversial project and cancel the Outline Consent. They must do this quickly to ensure they don’t carry the stigma of blighting Perth for decades to come.”

Richard added: “Councillors must realise that their planning officials have made significant errors in their handling of this application and don’t now want to admit that they have blundered. Revocation is the only safe way forward.”

The incinerator on Shore Road will be 13 storeys high and will tower above every other structure in the city. Its smoke stack, which will become the new visual symbol of Perth, will be 260ft high and introduce new, dangerous toxins, including dioxins, into the atmosphere which is already at a dangerous level.