Dear Alun,
Biomass UK incinerator at Barry Waterfront
Thank you for your letter of 16 august in relation to the biomass UK incinerator at Barry Waterfront.
I have discussed the contents of your letter with my teams in both Environmental Health Protection and Health Impact Assessments and I am aware that they have already addressed residents’ concerns on this subject and have, along with representatives of Cardiff and Vale Health Board, met with local residents.
In relation to the development of the facility itself, we supported the Health Board in providing comments to the original planning application. Based on our assessments of the application and our knowledge of these types of facilities, we concluded that “we do not consider the proposal to have a significant adverse health impact locally”. In a well-managed facility, and we have no evidence to suggest that this will not be, there is little to suggest that the process itself will make any significant contributions to air pollution in the area. This is consistent with the evidence from the peer reviewed published research on incinerators and health which demonstrate that, if properly regulated and managed, modern incinerators make only a small contribution to the local concentrations of air pollutants. While it is possible that these additions could have an impact on health, such effects, if they occur, are likely to be very small and not detectable. What was not addressed to our satisfaction in p-planning, and that we have raised again in our suggested response to the latest permit application, was the contribution of traffic travelling to and from the facility and the need to properly consider the cumulative impacts of emissions from nearby industries.
Health Impact Assessments (HIA) is not something that Public Health Wales can undertake or require the Regulator. HIA is not mandatory under the statutory planning guidance. The role of Public Health Wales is to offer independence review of HIA when one have been carried out. We can also offer advice and guidance on how to conduct and HIA and what should be included in the assessments.
Typically, an HIA is used in the planning stages of a development where there is the scope to look at wider health and well-being issues than the narrow range of issues that are considered at the Environmental Permitting stage, which is where we are at. Therefore, it is not clear to us whether the regulator (Natural Resources Wales) would be able to consider the results of any HIA carried out at this stage. I would like to reassure you that Public Health Wales has been supporting Cardiff and Vale Health Board in responding to this application and with addressing the concerns of local residents. We have provided the Health Board and detailed comments on the health risk assessments provided by the applicant at both the planning and permitting stage of this proposed facility.
We hope that this addresses yours, and your constituents, concerns.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Tracey Cooper
Chief Executive, Public Health Wales