biofuelwatch: W4B Bristol appeal response

Bristol palm oil power station appeal must be refused

Background

In February this year, Bristol City Council's Planning Committee voted to reject an application by W4B Bristol Ltd for a biofuel power station which was to burn palm oil, mainly from South-east Asia. The main ground for the Council's decision to reject the application was their concern about the wider impacts of the biofuels which W4B intends to burn.

This one power station would immediately double the UK's use of palm oil for bioenergy. It would cause more deforestation and peatland destruction (with at least 50% of all new oil palm concessions in Malaysia and Indonesia being on peatlands) and thus make climate change even worse. It will also, directly or indirectly, cause more land-grabbing, often linked to human rights abuses and hunger.

W4B appealed against the decision. At the public inquiry which ran from 10th to 13th August, the Planning Inspector ruled that the Council's main reasons for originally rejecting the application could not be discussed! The Planning Inspectorate insists that the impacts of biofuel production are not a planning matter. This flies in the face of local and national planning policy that stresses the importance of considering the impacts of planning decisions on the climate and 'sustainability' at all levels.

However, the final decision on the Appeal will not be made by the Planning Inspector, it will be made by the Secretary of State, Eric Pickles. All of the written evidence as to why palm oil burning is unsustainable and bad for climate, people and environment which groups and Bristol City Council had submitted will still go to him and he could still take it into account and refuse the Appeal on those grounds. The more people write to Mr Pickles and to their MPs about this, the more likely it is that he will look at this seriously, and not rubber-stamp whatever the Planning Inspector says.

Please personalise and then send the email below. It will go to Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government (eric.pickles@communities.gsi.gov.uk).

Please also send a copy of the letter to your MP, and ask him or her to also raise your concern with the Secretary of State. To find out who your MP is to write to him or her, please go to www.theyworkforyou.com

Click here for more detailed background information.

Dear Mr Pickles,

subject

Re: Appeal APP/Z0116/A/10/2126342/NWF, W4B Bristol Ltd In February this year, Bristol City Council rejected a planning application by W4B Bristol for a biofuel power station at Avonmouth. If it goes ahead, it will double the UK's current use of palm oil for biofuels. W4B intend to source their palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia. When they made their decision to refuse permission, Councillors were particularly concerned about the impacts of palm oil on the climate and on biodiversity, forests, and people in South-east Asia. The Council's decision was backed up by local and national planning policy. W4B appealed against the refusal of planning permission and the case was heard at an inquiry in Bristol from 10 to 13 August. I was dismayed to learn that the Inspector ruled at the inquiry that he would not hear evidence on the sustainability of the fuel for the power station. It was also argued by the developer that even the carbon emissions from the development were really not matters for a planning decision. As a result, I believe the Inspector's report may not give you a balanced view of the value and impacts of this development. I am particularly concerned that this development will make little or no contribution to helping the UK meet its statutory obligations to reduce carbon emissions. I also believe that local authorities must be allowed to consider the impacts of all their planning decisions on the climate and on people and the environment worldwide. Your Government has promised to give more planning powers back to local authorities and to 'restore local democracy'. I respectfully ask therefore that you dismiss the appeal. Yours sincerely,
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