Dear Sir,
In the last edition of the Newton News, Ian Jones of Fornax stated that: “The plant would generate enough energy to power the equivalent of 700 homes. “This statement is rather disingenuous as it implies that home owners in the area of the incinerator could be the beneficiaries of the off-take heat. This is far from the truth. Following the planning appeal, Fornax signed a s106 agreement to construct a network to distribute heat to occupiers within 2km of the incinerator. In their application to discharge planning Condition 13, Fornax say they would reduce the pipe work to 1km, largely on the grounds of cost, and their preference is for distribution within Merchant Park, ie nowhere near homes!! Therefore the chances of homes acquiring the off-take is a false construct. If Fornax stuck to the agreement, homes may well have had the benefit of the off-take heat.
I quote, from a written statement made by Fornax in their application: “In practical terms the maximum distance considered for a pipe run is – 1km from the source of the off-take.” However, I note that Mr Jones refers in the article to “organisations within a mile of the site” who may want to take up the heat. Either he is not familiar with Fornax’s formal application or he is not being entirely honest about their intentions. One mile is not equal to one kilometre, nor is it equal to the 2km as per the unilateral undertaking agreement/S106, which is relevant to Condition 13.
The application to discharge Condition 13 is yet to be decided by DCC.
Despite Mr Jones’s words, Fornax do not appear concerned about building a trusting two way relationship, as stated in the mentioned article, their concerns are profit. Mr Jones’s various accounts, using various media, are interesting, as in your previous article (dated) and on the radio, Aycliffe Radio 3/8/25, he mentions Health and Safety. On Aycliffe Radio he states that he will be inviting councillors to view the incinerator, but at that time, due to health and safety reasons, he was unable to send out the invitations, however, he was able to entertain within the facility the BBC television recording crew and reporter, and the ITV television recording crew. It appears that Mr Ian Jones is not interested in working with the community, being a good neighbour or Health & Safety, all they are interested in is controlling the narrative and portraying themselves in a positive light.
To conclude, profit and controlling the narrative are the objectives. If they are giving misleading and false constructs now, can you imagine the misinformation, should a permit is given?
Hilda Longley.