Friday 18 March 2011

When will they stop posturing and start listening?

Liberal Democrat Press Release 18 March 2011


It seems that the first thing to go up in flames in this debate is the idea that our politicians could work together to get the best results for the residents of the city of Leeds (their constituents) as this issue descends into the usual party political knockabout.
  • Yes this project was started by a Lib/Con council who ran the process for more than 5 years, incurring costs of approximately £1M+ of Council Tax payers money during that time before losing control of the council in May 2010.
  • No it has not been cancelled by the Labour Party
So both parties are equally in the firing line as far as the NO222222222incinerator campaign is concerned! NO22incinerator has no problem at all in saying that we think this proposed incinerator will be a disaster for our area and the people of Leeds as a whole.

We have called on the Labour administration of the city to stop this project immediately. It is pointless of them to say "we did not start this project" at this point we don't care who stated the process what matters most now is who puts a stop to it; what matters now is that no more time or money is wasted on this project. This is a PFI project which could end up costing the people of Leeds a conservative £380M over 25 years. It is an inflexible and old fashioned technology which does not properly address modern waste stream issues or the rapidly changing situation in this and other industries or rapidly changing economic factors and people's changing lifestyles.

This is not a quick cheap alternative to landfill; it was never going to be that, we have to re-adjust our thinking and our own lifestyles to solve this difficult long term and very expensive problem. We must work harder at REDUCE, RE-USE and RECYCLE and turn problem waste into a valuable commodity in a world with dwindling natural resources and politicians of all parties MUST find the courage to tell their electorate the truth about the lifestyle changes that will have to be made by everyone in the future to really address this problem properly.

Perhaps if they all spent less time pointing the finger at each others policies they would have more time and energy to address the matters of real and immediate importance to the Council Tax payers of Leeds - or is that too much to hope for?

5 comments:

  1. Well what does this demonstrate "NEVER TRUST A POLITICIAN"

    And do the liberals think putting out a press release will absolve them of any responsibility -remember they kicked all of this off. What a set of stuck up idiots the liberals are........ i vote be voting for you ever again.

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  2. This is project is just too important to the future of this area, its residents and the Council Tax payers of Leeds to allow any of the politicians involved to get away with using it as a political football.

    The bottom line is regardless of who started this project or how much has been wasted on it so far it much be stopped now. We need to totally re-asses the problem to find the best, most sustainable and flexible solution going forward. We will not solve the problems of the future with the discredited technologies of the past.

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  3. http://www.guardian.co.uk/leeds/2011/mar/21/leeds-incinerator-plans-anger?#post-area

    Just look at this article in the Guardian Leeds, where do they get these telephone number figures from?

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  4. Thats easy - they get them from our wallets - we foot the bill remember. Empty or full we will be paying for this monster for over 25 years - when every politician who made the decision is long gone,

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  5. It is a bit rich of Cllr Pryke to drag in Veolia's tarnished human rights record at this late stage when this company has been in the bidding process from the beginning and he has never raised it before.

    I just want them all to just stop playing politics and be honest with their constituents for a change, say what you mean and mean what you say - what is so hard about that?

    This kind of sniping and mealy mouthed behaviour is exactly why politics and politicians of all parties are now held in such contempt by ordinary people.

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