Why was incinerator information withheld?

12:33pm Friday 7th December 2007

The decision by the Information Commissioner to allow public access to almost all of the waste contract between Veolia and Brighton and Hove City Council and East Sussex County Council is a landmark case.

Brighton and Hove Friends of the Earth requested this information from the councils in January 2005 but were denied it at the time when we were told it was commercially confidential. We appealed and while it has taken a while we have now got a decision which says the councils were wrong to withhold the information and that the public interest is best served by releasing the majority of it.

At long last we can see information which will help us fully understand whether the councils intend to maximise composting and recycling or throw it all into the incinerator they intend to dump in Newhaven.

With the costs of the incinerator doubling to £145 million, and the cost of acquiring a lease to the site increasing by a further £8.2 million, it's about time the citizens of the city had some answers.

Alison Walters
Brighton and Hove Friends of the
Earth
Surrey Street