Waste depot rejection: 'Few people want 200 lorries a day on their streets'

WITH over 700 objections it is hardly surprising that city councillors have blocked the construction of a massive waste depot at Portobello.

With a track record of heeding local objections in the face of official advice, such strong opposition was unlikely to be ignored but on this occasion there was more to the residents' anger than just pure nimbyism.

Of course, those who campaigned so vigorously against the proposal did not want it on their doorsteps, but few people would welcome two hundred lorries a day thundering through their streets and the prospect of both noise and smell pollution from the operation. It's a perfectly understandable reaction when many of those who objected commonly have their nostrils filled with the stench from the nearby Seafield sewage plant.

And while Viridor has argued that transporting the millions of tonnes of commercial waste it collects by train rather than by road to Dunbar would have reduced its CO2 emissions by more than 42 per cent, this would have been over a large geographical area, with traffic movements in the Portobello area leading to higher levels of pollution locally.

It is understandable from the company's point of view that they deemed the former rail yard to be an ideal site for the £7 million project, located as it is in land primarily zoned for industrial use. But the problem is that its fleet of lorries would have to pass through densely populated areas to reach it.

It must have been tempting for councillors, though, to look sympathetically at the application considering the position they face regarding future plans for the disposal of their own waste. After being collected by the council refuse fleet it currently goes by rail from the ageing Powderhall facility to Dunbar under contract by Viridor. But that must change.

Powderhall, already well past its shelf life, is due to close in 2015 and by then the council will have to comply with EU directives which require a greater amount of household waste to be incinerated. Although an incineration facility will be required in the near future, such was the size of the proposed Portobello depot that a proportion of waste currently routed through Powderhall could have been handled there too, solving at least part of its problem.

But for the moment campaigners will see this decision as a victory for common sense, while Viridor will have to come up with more compelling arguments if it hopes to successfully appeal yesterday's overwhelming rejection of their plans.