Mayor Dr Nik Johnson told a rally protesting at a mega incinerator for the town, that he would bring “fresh solutions to realise the true potential of Wisbech”.
He was key note speaker at the WisWIN demonstration and said he had “serious concerns about this proposal to put Europe’s largest incinerator in Wisbech”.
Dr Johnson said his team at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority was working “at pace” to bring about improvements and change for the town.
And this includes “supporting you in your bid to stop this ill thought through incinerator “.
Ahead of statutory consultations on the incinerator, he said it was “totally unacceptable” and had rightly attracted widespread criticism and disapproval.
“I am not convinced by the argument that creating energy from waste should play any part of a clean energy mix solution,” he said.
“It is widely thought of as a short-term solution that plays no role in the energy transition to net carbon zero that we so urgently need.”
He said the combined authority’s independent commission on climate change had pinpointed the need to reduce regional greenhouse gas emissions.
These would be tackled, he said, through cleaner air, more jobs in the growing green economy, improved health, better insulated homes, and more and better green space.
“An incinerator will not help towards this goal,” he said.
Mayor Johnson said he also had “serious concerns” about the size of the proposed incinerator and its proximity to the Thoman Clarkson academy and to housing.
He said the company behind the scheme was threatening the way of life for a “fantastic community”.
He said: “An incinerator in Wisbech is ill conceived and in completely the wrong location.
“It would ruin the quality of life and fundamentally change the character of this special place.”
The mayor said society shouldn’t be encouraging the burning of waste but instead educating people to reduce, reuse and recycle.
“Those are the actions of a compassionate community,” he said.
“I don’t want an ill-thought-out incinerator but what I do want is a well thought out solution to the problems you face.
“And to successfully deliver those outcomes and more by working together we will be more than the sum of our parts.”
He concluded: “I will continue to do everything I can to help support Wisbech without Incineration.”
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