COUNCIL ACCUSED OF "SMOKE AND MIRRORS" OVER INCINERATOR

11.00.00am GMT Wed 2nd Dec 2009

Steve Gilbert, the Prospective MP for St Austell & Newquay, has said that Conservative Council Leader Alec Robertson's pledge to run an "open and transparent" administration is now in tatters and that Cornwall Council is playing a game of "smoke and mirrors" over the incinerator.

Steve has reported Cornwall Council to the Information Commissioner for failing to answer a Freedom of Information request on the incinerator.

Steve Gilbert said, "The Council is still failing to be upfront and honest with people in Cornwall about the incinerator. They won't make public the correspondence between the Council and Sita in the run up to the appeal and they haven't yet told us what the £30million cost of exiting the contract would buy for Cornwall."

"To properly understand the choice facing Cornwall we need to know what the £30million has bought that could be used in future waste solutions that don't use incineration."

He added, "All the time Cornwall Council drag their feet people in St Dennis continue to work tirelessly to prepare their arguments for the public inquiry and put their hands in their pockets to fight the plans."

"But we now know that either by winning the public inquiry or exiting the contract early the cost to Cornwall will be £30million. What the Council is refusing to tell us is what that cost covers."

The Lib Dem candidate, who has worked across the political divide to fight the incinerator planned for St Dennis, added, "The Conservatives pledge to run an open and transparent Council is in tatters. On the one hand they are telling us they will "robustly" defend the original decision to reject the giant incinerator and on the other they are still raising scare stories about the penalties that could hit tax-payers. It's all smoke and mirrors. They need to make the facts public so that we can have a sensible debate and possibly avoid a lengthy, expensive and uncertain public inquiry."