The people of Pound Hill, Maidenbower, Three Bridges and Copthorne were right when they opposed the proposed building of an incinerator at Wakehams Farm. A report just published by Greenpeace shows the ten incinerators already in operation in England have breached their licences 553 times in the last two years.

The worst of these is the one in Sheffield. That alone has had outpourings 156 times, yet has been prosecuted on only one occasion by the Environment Agency. The operators were fined £18,000 in December 1999. The best performing of the ten is that in Lewisham, illustrated by WSCC in its literature, which has breached its licence nine times in the past two years. This is owned by the French company Onyx, which is about to take over the Sheffield complex.

No figures are available on how far emissions can travel. Incinerators produce dioxins. These can cause cancer, birth defects and sex changes. Over a period of time, these build up in the human body. This is well documented when one looks at the experiences of those involved in the herbicide plant explosion in Seveso, Italy, in 1976. Other studies in the US, Austria and Japan confirm these findings.

Yet, a year ago, Michael Meacher, minister for the environment, called these health risks "exaggerated".

Greenpeace is campaigning against building any further incinerators, concluding that incineration "is an unreliable and dangerous technology... regulations are weak and need overhauling and existing incinerators should be closed as soon as possible".

The Government is about to sign an international treaty to ban dangerous chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants (POPS). At the same time, it wants to build up to 100 incinerators in England and claims emissions will be "minimised".

Residents of Crawley and Copthorne and probably further afield would be well advised to keep their eyes open when a new draft plan is published by West Sussex County Council next spring.

-Roy Billis, secretary, Pound Hill (North) Residents' Association