Suffolk gets £102m PFI credit for waste plant

Suffolk County Council has been granted a share of £310 public finance initiative (PFI) credits to enact waste management plans.

The credits, which have been made available by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, are to help the council’s project and three others divert one million tonnes of waste from landfill.

Suffolk County Council, which had announced plans to build an incineration site at the transport depot at Great Blakenham, received the largest slice of the credits, an allocation of £102 million.

Local recycling rates are expected to rise by 50 to 60 per cent a result of the projects.

"PFI agreements like these provide an incentive for local authorities and industry to work together to achieve our goals of reducing the environmental impact of waste, and making better use and reuse of the waste we create," said environment minister Joan Ruddock.

"Importantly, each one of them is pursuing a solution which will achieve major carbon benefits."

However some campaigners have criticised the government for backing plans for the incinerator.

With the council to put plans to turn waste into power out to tender, Peter Welham, coordinator of Suffolk Against Incineration and Landfill, said that the decision was "another nail in the coffin of democracy," claiming that the council had not taken seriously the consultation with the public.

Labour councillor Sandy Martin pointed out to the EADT24 news website that the £203 million credits accounted for just a sixth of the projected cost of building and operating the plant over 30 years.