FLY-TIPPING - OUR SHARED PROBLEM...

Recent fly-tipping in Allt-yr-yn

Whether you live in Allt-yr-yn, Pill, Tredegar Park, St Julians or anywhere else in Newport - fly tipping is a problem – with rubbish and waste being dumped in quiet streets, nature reserves, in fields or in the drainage reens on the levels (something which aggravates drainage problems and flooding). Newport City Council is directly responsible for removing dumped items from any council owned land, including housing estates, grass areas, parks and reens, canals and public highways.

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Recent fly-tipping in Allt-yr-yn

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The South Wales Argus (back in July 21015) reported that there were more than 7,000 fly-tipping reports but only five prosecutions in the last four years in Newport, a Freedom of Information request showed. No-one was taken to court in the city between April 2011 and March 2014 and the five offenders the council prosecuted in 2014-2015 were handed fines totalling just £2,600, the Argus reported.

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It was noted in 2015 that fly-tipping costs Newport council tax payers £300,000 a year. Fly-tipping in Newport by and large fell in the four years between 2010 and 2014, with 2,014 reports in 2011-12, 1,982 in 2012-13, 1,578 in 2013-14 and 1,672 in 2014-15, totalling 7,246, the Freedom of Information request showed. In February 2017 the South Wales Argus reported that 135.8 tonnes of waste was picked up by the Pride in Newport team since it was launched.

Recent fly-tipping in Allt-yr-yn

It remains one of those anti-social problems that plagues all of our communities across Wales affecting both relatively well off and less affluent communities of our country and our city. It affects both rural and urban areas equally and despite the best efforts of financially strapped county councils shows little sign of being discouraged or curbed.

Domestic waste aside much, but not all, a significant amount of the dumped waste appears to be construction or builders waste – something that may well be aggravated by the charge that commercial concerns face at some refuse sites (including Newport). What’s needed is to develop a realistic all agency approach, which can bring an end to the problem of fly tipping – something that may involve accepting commercial waste at the tip for no fee.

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A GREENWASH DEVELOPMENT

There was always more than a faint whiff of green wash about the proposed development of a 25 MWe Power Plant biofuel fed (Palm Oil from Indonesia) power station in Newport Docks. The residents of Pill, interested parties (including Plaid locally) and green pressure groups successfully worked with Newport City Councillors to get the original application thrown out. however, these things are never clear cut and VO-GEN ENERGY LTD who want to build power station (which will generate power with a marine diesel engine) have appealed to the National Assembly for Wales against Newport City Councils decision to refuse planning permission in respect of the above development. 

The City Council has endeavoured to maintain the quality of life and clean air in one of the most deprived area of Newport. Local considerations aside (and there are plenty of them) there are some global implications if permission is given to build a biofuel power plant in a city. There is a degree of irony here as much has rightly been made of the City's fair-trade status and Green credentials. World class sustainable dwellings are being built at Mariner’s Quay, not to mention the development of Newport High School at Bettws and the stated intention to exceed this specification at Hartridge High School. 

Such achievements should not be cast aside in favour of lowering standards and allowing permission to be granted for a dirty, smelly and unsustainable development such as a diesel generated biofuel power plant. At the Ensus biofuels plant on Teeside, local residents have complained bitterly about having to endure the sickening smell from this new plant. The owners can get away from it, but the residents cannot.

Decisions taken locally can have global implications:

Burning plant based materials uses land which should be used for growing food as world population increases and can leave the atmosphere worse off

http://www.biofuels-news.com/industry_news.php?item_id=2013

The cheapest biofuel currently used is palm oil. This is a primary cause of rainforest deforestation, disenfranchisement of indigenous peoples, and destruction of 10 million hectares of Indonesian peatland. Stripping primary forest for palm oil production also endangers species survival for tree dwellers such as the orangutan in Borneo and Sumatra

http://www.wetlands.org/Whatwedo/Biofuels/tabid/1253/Default.aspx

The EU did not foresee the problems raised by its policy to get 10% of Europe's road fuels from plants and has promised new guidelines to ensure that its target is not damaging.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6211EK.htm

Biofuels possibly have a negative impact on the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere under current EU regulations.

http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1019687.shtml

With biofuels, we are always going to be putting out more pollution than real renewables such as wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, tidal, and wave power, so no matter how efficient we make the production of the biofuels, they will still produce more pollution. Even with the best biofuel in the world, we will never come close to reducing air pollution as much as wind or solar.

So lets consider all the implications of granting permission for a biofuels plant here in Newport. There is a very real concern that the destruction caused by growing them will be virtually irreversible. We only have this one planet, so let us err on the side of caution and work to make sure that after due consideration this appeal is rejected in Newport and by the National Assembly.

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Newport Against Biofuels (NBB) were out and about today in Newport City Centre with a stall talking to people and letting them know what's going on and gathering support for the campaign.