Project Genesis Limited Submit an Appeal.

Despite our gallant community effort to Say No to Consett Incinerator, we find ourselves facing yet another battle. Project Genesis Limited are appealing the decision. In response to their decision to appeal, our community came together once again on Clean Air Day 2022, to tell Project Genesis that the people of Consett STILL Say NO to their plans for an incinerator in the heart of the town. 

A Sense of Pride in our Consett Community

We are extremely proud of our Consett community, the spirit and the unity is a source of inspiration. The Say No to Consett Incinerator campaign, with the support of the majority of the local councillors, generated thousands of formal objections. We had an online petition with over 4000 signatures and 6.5 thousand members on our Facebook group. Our protests, posters and banners all made their mark. At the planning meeting in September 2021, our community speeches combined with the contributions from our local councillors prompted a unanimous decision of ‘NO’ from from the Durham County Council Planning and ‘No’ from the Durham County Council planning committee. One councillor commented that ‘Consett has suffered enough.’ We agree. We are only just getting over the pollution left by the steelworks, only to face another battle against a far less productive pollutant in the heart of our town – an incinerator. Project Genesis Ltd are carrying on regardless, they have ignored the wishes of the majority of the town; their appeal is lodged.

Councillor Alex Watson is ‘quite excited’

There is one lone public voice of support. Despite the huge body of evidence highlighting the terrible impact of incinerators on local communities, Councillor Alex Watson is still telling the world what a great idea it is. In fact, he thinks it is so brilliant, he is even ‘quite excited’ about the prospect. 

Visit Consett?

How can a local councillor be ‘quite excited’ about building an incinerator in between two food factories, 350m from a housing estate and metres away from the Heritage Trail; a trail created by Project Genesis Trust to encourage tourism to the area. Why is Councillor Watson championing the pièce de résistance of Project Genesis’s contribution to the town of Consett; an incinerator?  Should we really have to go through yet another legal process to demonstrate that the people of Consett do not agree with Project Genesis’s plans for Consett?

The Appeal

The Say No Campaign committee have Rule 6 status at the Appeal – this means that we are present throughout the whole process and provide our own evidence on behalf of the community. The Appeal will start on Tuesday 9th August 2022, at 10.00am at County Hall. For the rest of the duration of the Appeal – at least 8 days – the proceedings will start at 9.30am. One of the days will include a site visit by the Inspector. You are invited. This is an open forum where the public are entitled to attend – please come along.

Secretary of State

At a planning appeal, in normal circumstances the Inspector writes a report and decides on the outcome. The situation in Consett has reached the very top of government and we have received a letter from the Secretary of State which declares he will ‘recover’ the plan and he will make the decision: 

‘The reason for this direction is that the appeal involves proposals giving rise to substantial regional or national controversy.’

Let’s hope the government listens to the people!

A Moratorium

The Scottish government has recently agreed to a moratorium which is effectively a ban on the building of new waste incinerators. This means councils will be told not to grant planning permission to further incineration sites. There is already a moratorium in Wales. A moratorium for England cannot come soon enough.

You Can Still Help

As a campaign. what we need most, is donations to our appeal fund. Our aim is to appoint a legal representative for us at the Appeal. Having this in place is not essential, but it will provide us with a much greater chance of success.

• Donate to our Crowd Fund – we are raising funds to cover our legal fees at the Appeal. Say No To Consett Incinerator – APPEAL FUND – a Community crowdfunding project in Consett by Christine Thomas (crowdfunder.co.uk)
• Buy some raffle tickets – we have some amazing prizes
• Come along to our fund raiser, a quiz night at The Demi. Say No To Consett Incinerator – Quiz Night – FUNDRAISER Tickets, Wed 20 Jul 2022 at 19:00 | Eventbrite
• Spread the word – too many people think we have already won.
• Join our Say No to Consett Incinerator Facebook group and follow us on Twitter
• Put your banners back up!
• Take part in our peaceful protests

WE WILL WIN

Stand with us and let’s use our collective community voice to tell Project Genesis Ltd that WE STILL say no to Consett Incinerator.

The towns people cared so much about the campaign the first time around, local musicians wrote a song about the cause: