Henry Bellingham - 'A dark, dark day for Norfolk'
The says he's "flabbergasted" that plans for a waste incinerator are moving forward.
"I'm staggered. I'm amazed. I'm flabbergasted. I am also very angry because a large number of people in West Norfolk voted with a resounding 'no'."
In fact, in a public referendum 65,000 people voted 'no' to the idea of the £600m project to build and run a waste plant at Saddlebow, near Kings Lynn.
Under the proposal the Anglo-American company would have a 25 year contract to process 260,000 tons of rubbish a year and provide power for 36,000 homes.
Local Conservative MP, , says he's very angry: "We're trying to encourage people to take part in democracy and turn up to vote. And when they do, they're blatantly, absolutely, flagrantly ignored in this way. I think it will lead to huge resentment, a lot of anger and it's a really dark, grim day for democracy in Norfolk."
The controversial plans to build the incinerator were approved by the Norfolk County Council's cabinet. It insists that it's right to move forward with the plans and the incinerator is needed - to cut down on landfill.
The company behind the energy plans says they'll have no significant impact on air quality or health.
But Henry Bellingham warns: "I'm not completely opposed to all types of incineration but I am completely opposed to this incinerator. If you're putting a county wide facility in Norfolk you don't put it upwind of the third most densely populated part of the county.
"If you drive up recycling rates to 75% then the case for an incinerator goes out of the window. What I said to the county council was that they should look at their entire waste strategy and aim at driving up recycling rates.
"People will not take this lying down."
Welcome to the political blog for the East. I'm Deborah McGurran, the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's Political Editor for the region. From Lowestoft to Luton, this is the place for politics with an eastern twist.
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