‘Council Chiefs Agree ‘Wastefield’ Proposals Not Most Effective Method’ - Campaigners

FifeWest Action Group Press Release Wednesday 26.06.02
Campaigners against plans to turn the Westfield former open cast coal site into a massive recycling and landfill facility will address local councillors and other elected officials – including three MSPs – at a specially arranged conference tomorrow (Thursday). Speakers from the FifeWest Action Group (FWAG) are expected to state that the proposals are unsustainable, unrealistic, and likely to further detriment the general health of communities who are already among the most vulnerable in Scotland.

"The proposed site is likely to fall foul of new air quality legislation which takes effect in 2010 and drastically reduces permissible levels of particulate matter below 10 micrometres in diameter[PM₁₀’s]," said group member Colin Forrest, who will address the conference. "We believe that the proposals would breach present PM₁₀ limits, and so it’s clear to us that this proposal does not have a future."

FWAG have arranged meetings with a number of local professionals, including health chiefs, environmental protection agency SEPA, and even the chief executive of Fife Council Douglas Sinclair – who they say admitted that the proposed scheme was not the most effective method of recycling.

"Douglas Sinclair, and David Sneddon, the Council’s head of Planning both agreed with me that there were more effective methods of recycling available than those proposed by the developers," said Sandy Spence. "If we want to make the most of the technologies available to us at this time, we should be looking at waste being separated at source, and a three-bin kerbside collection system."

Thursday’s conference will be held at the Lochore Miners Welfare Institute at 7pm. Those confirmed to attend include Labour MSP Helen Eadie and SNP MSPs Bruce Crawford and Tricia Marwick.