STOP PRESS - This from County Hall:
"Statement re CERC appeal
13 October 2011
The judgement of the High Court to uphold the legal challenge against the Secretary of State's decision to grant planning permission for the Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre is extremely disappointing.
The decision by the Secretary of State to grant permission for the CERC was taken after considering the findings of a comprehensive planning process, including a robust public inquiry, and the subsequent report from the Planning Inspector. We understand that the Treasury Solicitor, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State, has been granted leave to appeal.
The Council will be pressing for an early resolution as further delays will not only extend uncertainty over this process but could prove financially disastrous for people in Cornwall.
While it is not possible to accurately predict how long this issue will take to resolve, each month's delay costs the Council around £1m in landfill tax and haulage costs - creating serious implications for the Council's budget. This means a delay of up to six months would cost the Council at least £6 million - the equivalent of providing 400,000 hours of care for vulnerable people living at home, funding all the Council's community leisure facilities, keeping the streets of Cornwall clean for twelve months or repairing potholes and treating roads during the coming winter months. It would also be the equivalent of increasing council tax by 5%.
As a result of these additional pressures on the waste budget the Council will be meeting with SITA over the next few weeks to identify a series of interim measures to reduce costs and services throughout Cornwall.
We will now be considering the issues which have been highlighted by this decision in detail.
ends
Note to editors
Please note that the Council is not doing interviews on this issue."
(Er, Didn't the elected council members vote to refuse planning consent? - Ed)
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