Re: Opposition to the proposed Portland waste incinerator

DORSET Trades Union Council (DTUC) represents members in 20 affiliated branches from 12 different unions.

We were dismayed and angered to learn that Powerfuel Portland’s previously-rejected planning application to site a waste incinerator on the Isle of Portland has now been approved by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Building Safety and Homelessness, Rushanara Ali.

READ MORE: Council leaders shocked as Portland incinerator approved

As trades unionists, we were encouraged by the election of a Labour government and welcomed its commitment to high-quality jobs in clean energy generation.

How does permission to build this unsightly polluting waste incinerator fulfil this commitment?

Its 15 megawatt power output could be generated cleanly by one offshore wind turbine or three onshore. Why impose it on a county with an excellent record in waste management, particularly in recycling?

Why agree to its construction on the Jurassic Coast and risk losing the UNESCO World Heritage status that attracts the tourism that sustains Portland’s economy? Why risk the health of people living immediately above the incinerator’s chimney by exposing them to toxic emissions?

Pursuant to DTUC’s campaign for high-quality local jobs, I am a co-author of ‘Forgotten Towns - Weymouth, Portland and the coastal economy’ (link at the end of this letter) which traces the history of Weymouth and Portland’s economic decline from the closure of Navy and MoD sites in the 1990s.

At the time, the government provided very little support to ensure that these large industrial sites survived in new roles, as was available to other defence sector towns.

Portland suffered worst from the impact of these closures, with major job losses, a sharp rise in unemployment and a shift away from skilled engineering and electronics jobs.

Currently, most of Portland’s workers are dependent on tourism’s low-paid, part-time and seasonal work dominated by hospitality, retail, leisure and care work.

READ MORE: Anger mounts over waste incinerator plan for Portland

This resilient community feels marginalised and ‘dumped on’ by governments and other authorities. Cuts to the community hospital have removed all the beds, the X-Ray department and the Minor Injuries Unit. Historically, governments have chosen Portland as a site for prisons and two of these remain - The Verne, which houses sex offenders, and a young offenders institution.

In 2023, the Conservative government inhumanely housed asylum seekers on the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland Port without any consultation with the local community. This was divisive, with some people happy to welcome the asylum seekers, others opposed and an aggressive group was openly racist.

The Labour government’s early announcement of the Bibby Stockholm closure was well-received as even those who welcomed the asylum seekers felt that a barge was not suitable accommodation for people fleeing conflict, persecution and disaster.

Any enthusiasm for the government evaporated when approval of the incinerator was announced. This has fuelled feelings that ‘nobody cares about Portland’ and ‘Labour’s no better than the Tories’. It is likely to drive people towards Reform UK and other political extremes.

In addition to our concerns for Portland’s community, DTUC is calling for an immediate moratorium on environmental permits for all proposed and unbuilt waste incinerators because they are neither low-carbon nor renewable. Incinerators are over three times more carbon-intensive than the decarbonising national grid because they emit CO2 equivalent to the waste they burn. They also destroy recyclable materials.

READ MORE: Environmental permit needed to operate incinerator

Please spare Portland’s community from further economic damage, job losses, pollution, environmental degradation and massively increased traffic congestion - the incinerator would add 80 heavy goods vehicles every day on the only road on/off the island and through residential areas.

We look forward to your response to this letter and hope it will include confirmation that planning approval for the Portland incinerator has been rescinded and that no other proposed incinerators will be approved.

Jenny Lennon-Wood

Secretary of Dorset Trades Union Council

This letter will also be sent to: Angela Rayner, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Rushanara Ali, Under Secretary of State for Building Safety and Homelessness, Ed Miliband MP, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Lloyd Hatton, MP for South Dorset Copied to: Dorset Echo, Dorset Trades Union Council and the STOP Portland Waste Incinerator campaign