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16
Nov
Meet the opposition to Allerton Park’s asphalt plant
Towering above the A1(M) just before Boroughbridge is the Allerton Waste Recovery Park.
The imposing structure, which consists of a 70-metre high chimney and technologies designed to convert waste into energy, is a sign of industry and progress for some.
But, for those who live near it, the site is the opening of what could become an “industrial corridor” due to plans for an asphalt plant on the site.
The £1.2 billion structure is also a reminder of council planners triumph over a local opposition, when a parish council took local government officials to the High Court but failed at an attempt to stop the plant.
Some 10 years later, another opposition is brewing. This time in the communities which surround the site against the asphalt plant plans.
‘I just care about the planet’
Michael Emsley never expected to be leading objections to an asphalt plant.
He lives 500 metres from the planned site and passes the Allerton Waste Recovery Park every morning.
It was not until his got notification of the proposals that he started looking into the site and did not like what he found out.
“I just care about the planet,” he says as he shuffles through various print outs of economic analysis and air quality surveys of the site in his lounge.
Michael Emsley, speaking during a village hall event. Pic: Gerard Binks
Michael worked for years in the brick and concrete industry and draws on that knowledge when looking through the proposals.
These days he is head of vocational studies at Ampleforth College in York, but also dedicates a lot of time to the campaign to stop the asphalt plant.
When I first heard about the asphalt plant, I did nothing about it. Then we got a reminder letter and I thought: ‘what is this stuff?’ I’ve worked mainly in the brick and concrete industry for a lot of years. When we were making bricks, we put some pretty horrible stuff up the chimneys.
Tynedale Roadstone Ltd plans to build the asphalt plant at the Allerton Waste Recovery Park.
The company has two plants in County Durham and Newcastle. It says the plant will be an economic benefit for the area.
However, Michael is not convinced.
The proposals would include a 22.5-metre exhaust stack which would emit fumes containing carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and lead.
The Allerton Park incinerator. Picture: North Yorkshire Council.
Michael fears people living within a three-to-nine kilometre radius of the site would be affected by potentially harmful pollutants.
He is also concerned about the prospect of an “industrial corridor” in the Allerton area off the A168.
As such, he set up the Communities Against Toxins campaign group which has attracted support from hundreds of residents in nearby villages.
Among them is Bella Cornelius, who sits on Marton-Cum-Grafton Parish Council.
Living next to an incinerator
Aside from joining the campaign against the asphalt plant, Bella already had concerns over the waste recovery park.
Bella is particularly concerned over air quality and how it is monitored.
She points to recent BBC research which found that burning household waste to produce electricity is now the dirtiest way the UK generates power.
To compound this, the waste site has never met its recycling targets. Last month, a council repot said that in 2023 Allerton Park recycled 1.78% of waste against a contractual requirement of 5%.
Bella said the area already had its “fair share of air pollution” and expressed concern over the air quality justification over the incinerator and the subsequent asphalt plant.
Bella said:
Incinerators worsen air quality at a time when we need to improve air quality for the sake of people's health. Incinerators also make climate change worse, when we are experiencing a climate emergency.
The question isn’t - what’s better - incineration or landfill? Incineration is clearly worse when discussing air quality and carbon. But a better question is this: how can we generate less waste? We need to turn it off at the tap, and that means prioritising the circular economy which reduces waste and reuses what we can.
The concerns are echoed by other residents in Marton-cum-Grafton.
Paul Shattock, who lives in the village, said he was concerned about the impact on the health of his grandchildren due to pollution from the site.
He said:
I have become much more aware of the discharge from it [the incinerator], tracking where it goes, what comes out of there and the impact on health less about mine but that of my grandchildren who visit often.
Tynedale Roadstone Ltd claimed there would be “no significant effects” on air quality as a result of the asphalt plant and that traffic generated by the plant was unlikely to cause any safety concerns.
However, Bella has questioned the level of monitoring of air quality — particularly by North Yorkshire Council — and whether planning decisions should be based on it.
She points to the fact that the council monitors air quality management areas, such as at Bond End in Knaresborough, on a regular basis — but the latest data for Allerton Park is in 2019.
Green Party Cllr Arnold Warneken, who represents Ouseburn on the council, told the Stray Ferret that he had raised the issue over lack of monitoring with authority officials.
He said:
It currently only monitors air quality in AQMAs, but how can it decide where air quality objectives are not being met, when they don’t have any data?
The Stray Ferret approached North Yorkshire Council for a response to the concerns over air quality monitoring and asked how often it monitors the area.
Karl Battersby, the council's corporate director for environment, confirmed that the authority does not monitor air quality around Allerton Waste Recovery Park.
However, he said the operator of the plant monitors emmissions as part of its obligation.
He said:
We do not monitor air quality around Allerton Waste Recovery Park (AWRP), but the operator does routinely monitor the emissions from the plant as part of their obligation.
It is up to the developer to provide appropriate air quality data to accompany their planning application. This process is ongoing.
Energy policy is determined by the Government. Nevertheless, AWRP can process up to 320,000 tonnes of waste per year from York and North Yorkshire councils, and is reducing the amount of household rubbish being sent to landfill by at least 90 per cent.
Incineration is proven to be better for the environment than landfill, as we are now recovering much more energy from household waste rather than burying it in the ground as a problem for future generations.
The environmental impact of decomposing plastic, for instance, in landfill is significant. As it breaks down, it produces greenhouse gas emissions and can contaminate water courses and rivers.
'We have got to be optimistic'
The saga surrounding the asphalt plant has led to concerted opposition.
Michael set up the Communities Against Toxins campaign group in 2023 with the support from Bella and sought local expertise to help lead objections to the plans.
Campaigners against the asphalt plant near Knaresborough. Picture: Gerard Binks.
Since then, the group has held village hall meetings in Marton-Cum-Grafton with hundreds of residents attending and gathered objections to the proposal.
When asked whether the pair are confident that their campaign will work, Bella said:
We have got to be. We are optimistic. I really believe that the council have it in them to do the right thing.
The campaigners intend to fight the proposal all the way through the planning process — much like the opposition to the waste plant over 10 years ago.
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