MSP submits objection to controversial landfill site plans

MSP Willie Rennie has taken the unusual step of submitting an objection to the planning application for an Incinerator Bottom Ash (IBA) facility at the Lower Melville Wood site.

Fife Resource Solutions has submitted plans for the construction and operation of a facility for the storage and processing of IBA – plans which have been criticised by locals whose lives are already blighted by the infamous ‘Melville Pong’.

Mr Rennie, the MSP for North East Fife, pointed to the years of capacity remaining at the Peterden IBA facility, north of Dundee. He also pointed to the ‘unrealistic’ claims about the extraction of the metals and the markets for the material in the construction industry, which could mean that the waste is deposited in the landfill at both Melville Wood and Dunfermline sites. He also believes that as the smell from the landfill has not been eliminated there should be no further development on the site.

“I normally do not get involved in planning issues but this is an exceptional issue that requires my involvement,” he said.

“The claims on extraction and use are exaggerated and the environmental impact of transporting it from Dundee are greater than the alternative in Peterden. I am very concerned that if they cannot find markets for the waste in the construction sector then it may be dumped at Lower Melville and Dunfermline.

“The Peterden facility has been operating for years and has many years’ left to operate. Why on earth are we creating a new facility when there is already a facility closer to the Dundee incinerator that has been established for many years? t just does not make sense. Local people around Lower Melville Wood have just had enough too. For years they have been subjected to obnoxious smells from the landfill which the Refsol team, despite their best efforts, have just not controlled. The council should not even think about expanding facilities and activities at the site at least until the smell has been eliminated.

“Planners should reject this application without hesitation.”