Waste Incinerators

Lloyd Hatton Excerpts
Thursday 3rd April 2025

(2 weeks, 6 days ago)

Westminster Hall
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Lloyd Hatton Portrait Lloyd Hatton (South Dorset) (Lab)
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It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) for securing this important and timely debate.

Yesterday, a High Court judge rejected a statutory review into Powerfuel’s planning application for a proposed waste incinerator on Portland in my constituency. It follows the granting of an environmental permit by the Environment Agency earlier this year. This week’s legal decision is deeply disappointing, but we should never have reached this stage in the first place. Constructing a waste incinerator on Portland makes no sense, for a whole list of reasons.

First, there are serious health concerns about building an incinerator so close to a built-up area and to a prison. The proposed location of the incinerator is only a few hundred metres from the prison. I remain deeply alarmed by the idea that polluting technology should get the go-ahead on the island. Secondly, alongside my community I am deeply concerned about the negative impact on our precious Jurassic coast. Building an incinerator on the edge of a UNESCO world heritage site would be a deeply damaging world first.

Thirdly, I worry about the potential impact that an incinerator would have on our local economy and our status as a hub for sailing and water sports. Countless local business owners have raised objections with me at every stage. They must not be overlooked. You need not take my word for it, Ms Lewell. Portland is the proud home of the National Sailing Academy, where Olympic sailors train, and live nearby. Elite sailors have made it abundantly clear that building an incinerator next door to the academy would be a disastrous decision. Just recently, the Royal Yachting Association has also taken the unprecedented decision to announce that it will independently investigate the potential health impact of an incinerator if it is built.

Finally, there is little need for a waste incinerator to be built on Portland. As the United Kingdom Without Incineration Network—UKWIN—has highlighted in its research, we are at risk of building too many incinerators across the country, which could lead to a problem of overcapacity. I do not want a nightmare scenario in which Britain is importing waste from across the world simply to keep the incinerators running.

To be completely blunt, I am opposed to any new incinerators being built locally or anywhere else across the country at the present time. As has been mentioned, incinerators are the dirtiest way in which Britain generates power, as underlined by a recent BBC investigation. Regretfully, incinerators across the country have been found time and again to have breached environmental permits by emitting harmful pollutants. That is why I am once again calling for a nationwide ban.

The Government are moving in the right direction, but they must move so much further and faster. They have introduced strict environmental rules for new proposals, but the scope of those rules must be widened significantly. If the crackdown measures were applied to the proposed incinerator on Portland, it would not be built. Taking all these arguments into account, I urge the Minister to reassess the plans and prevent an incinerator going ahead on Portland.

The case against the proposal is strong. Hardly anyone living in Weymouth and Portland wants an incinerator to be built. I find it completely baffling that Portland port and Powerfuel—the firm behind the proposals—are still pushing ahead. I urge them to listen to our community and abandon the proposals. When I look to the future of South Dorset, I see green investment opportunities and well-paid green jobs, not an unwanted and polluting waste incinerator. I believe that we can deliver a cleaner and greener future for South Dorset, but harmful, dirty and outdated waste incinerators are simply not part of it.

Environmental Protection

Lloyd Hatton Excerpts
Wednesday 13th November 2024

(5 months, 1 week ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lloyd Hatton Portrait Lloyd Hatton (South Dorset) (Lab)
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Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling me to speak during today’s important debate.

I wish to begin by taking the opportunity to thank my constituents for choosing change and putting their trust in me at the ballot box this summer. This was indeed a “change” election. The last time that a Labour MP for South Dorset stood here and made his maiden speech, I was just six years old. But my Labour predecessor—Lord Knight—did not waste any time winning my support. As the local MP, Lord Knight relentlessly fought for my community, and he leaves behind a legacy of which we can all be proud. His successes include rebuilding my dilapidated primary school and then rebuilding my secondary school as well. Lord Knight was also at the heart of the campaign to win the 2012 summer Olympic games bid, with Weymouth and Portland proudly hosting the sailing events. I consider myself very fortunate to have one of my predecessors working just along the corridor in the other place. This Palace of Westminster can be an ancient and mysterious workplace at times, so I will always be grateful for my Lord Knight in shining armour just around the corner.

I would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to my immediate predecessor, Richard Drax. As our MP, his commitment to our armed forces community was second to none. The constituency may have changed hands, but I fully intend to continue his work championing our armed forces.

If I may, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would also like to pay tribute to another former Member of this House, Baroness Hodge. Many Members will, like me, have worked alongside Baroness Hodge. Working with her is certainly an unforgettable experience. “Relentless”, “feisty”, “ferocious”, “attack dog”—these are just some of the terms bandied around the staffroom at Amazon headquarters after only the briefest of cross-examinations by Baroness Hodge, and with good reason. She exemplifies how to be an effective and tenacious change-maker in Parliament. For more than a decade, she has been the scourge of tax-dodgers and kleptocrats, white-collar criminals and oligarchs alike. It was a pleasure to work alongside her in the battle against dirty money and economic crime. I look forward to continuing her important work, both in this place and on the Public Accounts Committee.

Before I take Members on a walking tour of my constituency, I would just like to say thank you to the people who got me here. My parents, my wider family, my friends and my partner have always had my back. They have always supported my endeavours, and they have given so much to ensure that every opportunity was made available to me. Thank you.

There is something deeply personnel about being able to represent your home. It is an honour to be able represent my friends, my family, my neighbours and my former classmates. In the years ahead, I look forward to rigorously standing up for all the communities that make up South Dorset.

Madam Deputy Speaker, wherever you look across my constituency, a strong sense of community and local pride is unmissable. Starting our stroll in the east of my constituency, we will find Studland and then Swanage, a small, charming seaside town. The people of Swanage have much to be proud of, including the legacy of one Trevor Chadwick. Trevor was a public-spirited man, a local schoolteacher and a lifeboat volunteer. In 1939, he joined Sir Nicholas Winton to assemble the Prague Kindertransport. Despite the clear dangers facing him, Trevor went to Prague to help rescue 669 children from the Nazi regime, yet, much like Sir Nicholas Winton, Trevor did not seek praise or recognition for his heroism, and for many years his work went unmarked. There now stands a statue in Swanage marking his proud legacy. Walking past it just the other day, I was reminded of the quiet selflessness and compassion that sits at the heart of all our communities. We can all learn from his example.

The town of Swanage is also rightly proud of its many independent businesses, its award-winning beach and its essential community hospital. Without these institutions, the town would be lost, so I look forward to advocating for all three at every opportunity.

Now, Madam Deputy Speaker, moving west on our walk along the coastline of my constituency, you are spoilt. Whatever other Members might claim, I know that my constituency truly is the most impressive, the most spectacular, and the most charming. If you do not believe me, just ask UNESCO. My constituency is the proud home of the Jurassic coast: St Aldhelm’s Head, Chapman’s Pool, Bacon Hole, Lulworth Cove, Durdle Door and Ringstead bay are all geological gems dotted along the coast. Most hon. Members have probably already visited this part of my constituency, either on a romantic weekend away, a summer holiday or an ill-fated geography field trip many moons ago. Either way, all who visit the Jurassic coast leave with lifelong memories. Rural communities such as Corfe, Worth Matravers, Langton Matravers, Winfrith and Wool are all proud to call the Jurassic coast our back garden. I will do all I can to defend, preserve and enhance that unique landscape.

Ambling further west, we arrive at the friendly seaside town of Weymouth. Weymouth and nearby Portland were a key departure point for the Dunkirk evacuation and, later, the D-day landings. My home town was a generous home to soldiers, sailors and airmen during the second world war. In the months prior to D-day, Weymouth hosted thousands of British and allied forces as they prepared for the liberation of Europe. In Weymouth we do not easily forget the importance of those D-day landings, and our town is proud of the role that we played in turning the tide against fascism. In a world that often feels insecure and riven by conflict, our community will always remember the sacrifices made to defend democracy and freedom.

Weymouth also remains proud of a local parliamentarian, Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton. In the early 19th century he was a Member of Parliament for Weymouth and a leading member of the abolitionist movement. Alongside William Wilberforce, Buxton led efforts to abolish slavery throughout the British empire. Wherever I go in Weymouth, there are quiet reminders of that important figure and the role he played in making the world a more civilised place. We are proud of his legacy and I believe we are a kinder and more caring community because of it.

Weymouth is a fantastic place to call home, but that does not mean our town is without its challenges. Growing up there the message I too often heard was that to get on, you had to get out. I reject that outlook altogether. I am proud to call Weymouth home and I will do everything I can to attract the jobs, investment and opportunities that every young person there deserves.

Arriving at the westward end of our walk through our constituency, we find the Isle of Portland, but we do not need to visit Portland to appreciate its significance. Parts of this Palace of Westminster were built using Portland limestone. The Cenotaph and Whitehall were also constructed using that stone, as were the United Nations headquarters and much of Buckingham Palace.

We are proud that a part of Portland can always be found in the corridors of power, yet Westminster and Whitehall can too often feel remote and far removed from life on the island. I will always stand up for the proud communities living in Portland, and I will do what I can to shrink the gap between communities and the corridors of power. I have begun by working with the Government to shut down the Bibby Stockholm barge, and I will continue by challenging proposals to build an incinerator and by campaigning for improved healthcare and much-needed green investment.

Well, there you have it, Madam Deputy Speaker: a short ramble across South Dorset, all enjoyed from the comfort of these green Benches. The countryside and coastline, the towns and villages that make up my constituency are brimming with pride and with strong communities. It is an immeasurable honour to represent each and every one of them, and I shall seek to serve them first and foremost in this House.

Judith Cummins Portrait Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
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I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.