Norfolk waste disposal: Incineration dropped from council strategy
Norfolk county councillors have voted to stop the sale of an axed waste incinerator site and ruled out burning as a future method of waste disposal.
The council had proposed to build an incinerator at Saddlebow, King's Lynn, but the project was scrapped earlier this year at a cost of £33m.
Labour council leader George Nobbs said the site would not be sold or rented to any company to build an incinerator.
The council is now to develop a strategy to recycle and reuse waste.
'Still not resolved'
Mr Nobbs, who heads an alliance of Labour, Lib Dem and Ukip councillors supported by the Greens, said: "Land in different parts of the county would be set aside for waste disposal use.
"But there is no intention of building an incinerator anywhere in the county."
The scheme to incinerate waste from across Norfolk to generate energy and reduce the need for landfill was spearheaded by the county's former Conservative administration .
When the party lost control of the authority in 2013, councillors voted to withdraw from the scheme following delays in obtaining planning permission, due to the scheme being called in by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
The cancellation of the contract cost the authority more than £33m in compensation to contractors Cory Wheelabrator.
Conservative councillor Bill Borrett said the waste disposal issue in Norfolk was still not resolved and a solution had to be found that did not involve landfill.
The Conservative-run West Norfolk Council had opposed the incinerator plan and celebrated alongside the local protest group King's Lynn without Incineration when the project was abandoned.