WHT InferNO! campaign
Hatfield incinerator ‘will not affect house prices’ – Veolia
By Ross Logan , Reporter
Sunday, January 29, 2012
2:01 PM
BUILDING an incinerator will NOT affect house prices in Hatfield – according to the company responsible for the New Barnfield scheme.
An artist's impression of the New Barnfield incinerator from the airBUILDING an incinerator will NOT affect house prices in Hatfield – according to the company responsible for the New Barnfield scheme.
A study commissioned by Veolia Environmental Services claims new research into the potential impact of Energy Recovery Facilities (ERFs) on property markets shows “no substantive evidence” of incinerators negatively affecting the value of the surrounding area.
But opponents of the controversial plans to build a 380,000-tonne waste burner at New Barnfield have dismissed the report as “spin of the worst kind”.
The survey was conducted by chartered surveyors Cluttons, and is an updated version of a 2005 study into Veolia’s proposals for an incinerator in Newhaven, East Sussex.
How you can object
THE public consultation on the Hatfield incinerator (planning application 6/2570-11) is due to close on Tuesday, January 31.
That means, realistically, it is the last chance for residents to officially have their say over the proposals.
So if you want to stop Hertfordshire County Council and Veolia Environmental Services from building a 380,000-tonne waste burning facility at New Barnfield, now is the time to speak up.
Hatfield Against Incineration has been distributing a simple response form, which gives residents a choice of six key reasons why the incinerator should be blocked.
Simply tick the relevant boxes, including your own comments, and send back to the county council by Tuesday.
The reasons are:
Visual intrusion
Traffic, Noise, Pollution, Congestion and Danger
Loss of amenity for residents
Danger to health
Loss of wildlife, including protected species
Loss of Green Belt
If you have not received a leaflet, you can download a copy from HAI’s website www.hatfield-anti-incineration.co.uk or pick up a copy from the WHT’s offices in Howardsgate, WGC.
Alternatively, you can email your own objections to newbarnfieldplanning@hertscc.gov.uk or send them to New Barnfield Planning Team, Spatial & Land Use Planning, CHN216, County Hall, Hertford SG13 8DN.
It used three facilities built by Veolia in Hampshire as references, saying the report could be used as “background evidence” for “projects elsewhere in the country”.
The study was based on “empirical evidence from actual residential and commercial property transactions” in areas where a Veolia incinerator was already operating.
The conclusion reads: “There is no substantive evidence that the proposals for, or the presence of the ERFs have had any adverse affects on the respective local residential and commercial property values or developer investment.”
But the study has been dismissed by anti-incinerator campaigners in Hatfield.
Welwyn Hatfield MP Grant Shapps said: “The Veolia-funded weasel word report won’t fool anyone in Welwyn Hatfield.
“The idea that the imposition of an enormous incinerator on your doorstep might somehow enhance an estate agents description is simply barmy.
“Veolia seem intent on doing long-term harm to their reputation in this part of the world and the more they persist in paying for idiotic reports, the more they appear to be out of touch with the real concerns of local people.”
Fellow campaigner Paul Zukowskyj, who lectures in environmental services at the University of Hertfordshire, said: “As someone trained in the correct application of statistics I see every day the inappropriate use of them to bolster an argument that is weak at best in a vain attempt to convince the gullible of something.
“This is spin of the worst kind. Twisted statistics parading as fact, marketing funds ‘paying’ for the result they want.
“It’s clearly untrue and I seriously doubt anyone with an ounce of common sense would believe it.”
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7 comments
Rollocks....
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SueMoo
Monday, January 30, 2012
Donna. WelwynHatfield Borough Council are against the incinerator, it is the County Council who wish to see it at New Barnfield
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Hatfield First
Monday, January 30, 2012
What rubbish...
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commonsense
Monday, January 30, 2012
I cannot understand why the Hatfield City Council would give approval to Veolia who has such a proliferate history of dumping toxic wastes, causing sewage spills, and other problems, causing cities across the USA hundreds of millions of dollars and harming the health of the public. In addition, Veolia runs a tramway service in East Jerusalem that is operated by the Israeli State which illegally occupied the area in 1967 and which breaks international law. Also, Veolia has a history of bribery convictions and class action law suits filed by shareholders in Europe and the USA and recently has suffered collapses in its stock price and credit rating. With Veolia’s record it is clear that this company does not have the interests of the nearby residents in mind and they are unethical. Why would the Hatfield City Council want to destroy a library, an important resource for the entire community, to build a facility that will harm the health of all who live near and cause damage to the environment?!
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Donna
Monday, January 30, 2012
Should readers wish to learn more of how Veolia has wrecked havoc in California, in particular in the San Francisco Bay Area, search on Veolia Hall of Shame. Hatfield residents,you don't want to go through the same.
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Jane Jewell
Monday, January 30, 2012
Given the appalling track record of Veolia with respect to polluting the environment, its plummeting share prices and dubious financial future, not to mention its serious lack of ethics in running a segregated bus system in the West Bank, I can only assume that the Hatfield County Council is considering a contract with this company because somebody somewhere will be getting a nice fat commission. I would be interested to know how they plan to deal with a half-built waste disposal facility, abandonned by Veolia when it finally goes bankrupt. And how they plan to deal with the locals, having destroyed a library in their foolhardy plan to build a polluting waste disposal facility next to a school. Jane Jewell, resident of California, where Veolia has the distinction of being the 4th biggest polluter in our State.
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Jane Jewell
Monday, January 30, 2012
Veolia go beyond spin, this report is TOTAL RUBBISH as a study. The famous peer reviewed Kyle & McCaine study undertaken for the US Environmental Protection Agency, Andover, New Hampshire proved EfWincinerators acted as a major negative externality and depreciated house prices and other other amenity values within 1 km from a EfW facility by 10%; this depreciation being felt up to 4.5km from a facility. Veolia- having US facilities and knowing this research are being very economical with the truth, as one might expect, selective spin. Lets have the truth Veolia. Common sense folks; do you know anyone who would choose to live within a couple of kilometres from a burner any pay the same market price, as per no incinerator adjacent; don't think so, Veolia are up to their tricks again, trying to hoodwink locals, the Public and residents
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Rob Whittle
Sunday, January 29, 2012